Abba (born about 175, died 247), who is known in history by the name of Rab, had completed his education, after the death of his father Aibu, at the academy of Judah I in Tiberias. Great astonishment was expressed at the early development of the wonderful talents of this youth. Through Chiya's intercession, Rab obtained a somewhat restricted advancement, which the Patriarch Gamaliel III afterwards refused to extend. Great things were expected of him in his home, and when the news of his return from Palestine was known, Samuel, who had already returned, and his friend Karna, went to meet him on the bank of the Euphrates canal. The latter overwhelmed him with questions, and even Shila, the principal of the school, bowed to his superior knowledge. After Shila's death Rab ought to have succeeded him in his office, but he refused the post in favor of his younger friend, Samuel, whose home was in Nahardea.

The Prince of the Captivity of that period seems to have shown special regard for such Babylonians as were learned in the Law, in his appointments to the offices within his gift. He nominated as supreme judge in Cafri one of his relations, Mar-Ukba, whose wealth, modesty, character, and knowledge of the Law well fitted him for this post. He also appointed Karna as judge, who, not being rich, was obliged to be indemnified for his loss of time by the suitors. To Abba-Areka was given the post of inspector of markets (Agora-nomos), carrying with it the control of the weights and measures.

The arbitrariness of the rule of the Exilarch is well illustrated by the following example. Abba-Areka had been commanded to control the prices of the market, and to prevent the necessaries of life from becoming too dear. Having refused to obey this order, he was thrown into prison and kept there until Karna upbraided the Prince of the Captivity with thus punishing a man who was full of the "juice of dates" (genius). Abba-Areka had occasion, by reason of his position as Agoranomos, to journey to the various districts of Jewish Babylonia, and he thus became known throughout the country. Artabanus IV (211–226), the last Parthian monarch of the house of Arsaces, who had probably made his acquaintance on one of his circuits, esteemed him so highly that he once sent him a present of some valuable pearls. Between the last Parthian King and the first Babylonian Amora there existed the same friendly relations as between the Jewish Patriarch and the Roman Emperor of his time. Artabanus was afterwards deposed by Ardashir, and with him ended the dynasty of Arsaces. When Rab heard of the fall of Artabanus, he exclaimed sorrowfully, "The bond is broken."

Abba discovered with surprise during his journeys the unbounded ignorance of the Jewish laws into which those communities remote from the capital had fallen. In one place nothing was known of the traditional prohibition forbidding meat to be eaten with milk. In order to repress these transgressions and to remove this ignorance, Rab extended many laws, and forbade even what was otherwise allowed. In this way there arose many restrictions which, owing to his authority, acquired the force of law. The negligence existing throughout the district of Sora gave him the idea of founding an academy in that very place, in order that the knowledge of the Law might become more widely spread through the passage to and fro of the disciples. His efforts were crowned with complete success. If the development of the Law has greatly contributed to the preservation of Judaism, this result is for the most part due to the labors of Abba-Areka. With but few intermissions, Sora was the seat of Jewish science for nearly eight centuries.

The academy, which bore, as was customary, the name of "Sidra," was opened by Abba about the year 219. Twelve hundred disciples, attracted by Abba-Areka's reputation, flocked together from every district of Babylonia. More than a hundred celebrated disciples and associates afterwards disseminated his maxims and decisions throughout the land. The throng of auditors was so great that he was obliged to enlarge his lecture-room by enclosing a garden belonging to a recently deceased proselyte, which he acquired for this purpose as vacant ground. The reverence entertained for him by his disciples was so profound that they called him simply "Rab," the Teacher, in the same way as the Patriarch Judah was called Rabbi or Rabbenu, and this is the appellation by which he is generally known. His school was called Be-Rab (Be abbreviated from Beth, house), which afterwards became the general name for a school. His authority extended beyond the boundaries of Babylonia; even Jochanan, the most celebrated of the teachers of Judæa, wrote to him, "To our teacher in Babylonia," grew angry whenever any one spoke slightingly of Rab, and admitted that the latter was the only person to whom he would have willingly subordinated himself. Rab was accustomed to maintain such of his numerous disciples as were without means, for he was very wealthy, and owned land, which he cultivated himself. The excellent arrangements which he adopted permitted his auditors to devote themselves to the study of the Law without neglecting their livelihood. In two months of the year (Adar and Ellul), at the commencement of autumn and spring, they assembled at Sora. During these two months, which were called "months of assembly" (Yarche Kalla), lectures were delivered every day from the early morning on; the auditors hardly allowed themselves time enough to swallow their breakfast. The ordinary name for the public lectures was Kalla. Besides these two months, Rab devoted the week before the principal festivals to public lectures, in which not only the disciples, but the whole populace, were interested. The Prince of the Captivity used also to arrive in Sora about this time to receive the homage of the assembled crowd. The throng was generally so great that many were unable to get lodgings in the houses, and were consequently obliged to sleep in the open air, on the shore of lake Sora. These festival lectures were termed Rigle. The Kalla-months and the Rigle-week had also certain influences upon civil life; the judicial powers suspended their operation during these periods, and creditors were forbidden to summon their debtors before the court. Rab thus provided at one and the same time for the instruction of the ignorant multitude, and for the further advancement of the deeper study of the Law by the education of disciples.

Nothing is known of any peculiar method employed by Rab. His mode of teaching consisted of analyzing the Mishna, which he had brought with him in its latest state of perfection, of explaining the text and the sense of every Halacha, and of comparing them with the Boraitas. Of these decisions and deductions, which are known by the name of Memra, there exists a great number from Rab's hand, and they, together with those which proceeded from Samuel and Jochanan, the contemporary principals of the schools, form a considerable part of the Talmud. For the most part he was more inclined than his fellow Amoraim to render the Law severer, and to forbid such legal acts as verged on the illegal, at least in the opinion of the multitude of Babylonian Jews, who were incapable of nice discrimination. Most of Rab's decrees received the force of law, with the exception of those, however, which affected municipal law, for his authority was more respected in questions of ritual than of civil law.

With the most determined energy he undertook the amelioration of the morals of the Babylonians, which, like their religion, had fallen to a very low ebb among the lower classes. The ancient simplicity of married life which had formerly obtained was now superseded in Babylonia by a hollow and brutal immorality. If a young man and woman met, and were desirous of uniting in marriage, they summoned the first witnesses at hand, and the marriage was concluded. Fathers gave their daughters in marriage almost before they arrived at majority, and the bridegroom either did not see his bride until after the decisive step had been taken, when, doubtless, he often repented of his act, or else he lived in the house of his intended father-in-law in a too intimate relation with his betrothed. The law, instead of condemning this immorality, had afforded it the protection of its authority. Rab combated these prevailing customs with the full force of a moral ardor. He forbade the solemnization of marriage which had not been preceded by a courtship, and enjoined on fathers not to marry their daughters without the consent of the latter, and therefore still less before their majority. He further admonished all who were desirous of marrying to make the acquaintance of the maiden of their choice before their betrothal, lest when disappointed, their conjugal love should turn to hate, and finally he forbade the young men to live in the house of their betrothed before marriage. He baffled all the legal artifices which could be employed by a husband to make a divorce retrospective by withdrawing the support of the law from such cases. All these moral measures became laws of general application. Rab also increased the reputation of the courts of justice; every one was obliged to appear on being summoned before the court, and the bailiffs were invested with official authority; the punishment of excommunication was introduced for cases of refractoriness. This punishment was very severe in Babylonia, and consequently produced great effects. The transgressions of the offender were publicly announced, and he was avoided until he had made expiation. In Babylonia, where the Jewish population formed a little world of its own, this punishment was sufficient to procure obedience and respect for the laws. Rab's energies were thus employed in two directions; he refined the morals, and aroused intellectual activity in a country which, as the sources express it, had formerly been "a vacant and unprotected fallow field." Rab surrounded it with a two-fold hedge, severity of manners and activity of mind. He was in this respect for Babylonia what Hillel had been for Judæa.

Rab's virtues, his patience, conciliatory disposition, and modesty, also put one in mind of Hillel. He had a bad wife who opposed him in everything, but he bore her vexations with patience. In his youth Rab had acted badly towards Chanina, the head of the school in Sepphoris, and was therefore unceasing in his efforts to obtain his pardon. His forgiving disposition caused him to lose sight of his exalted station. Once, when he thought he had given offense to a man of the lower classes, he repaired to the latter's house on the eve of the Day of Atonement, in order to become reconciled with him. Whenever he was followed to his school by a crowd of people on the days of his lectures he used to repeat a verse of Job, in order to prevent his pride from rising too high: "Though the excellency of man mount up to the heavens, yet he shall perish forever." Before repairing to the court he was wont to exclaim: "I am prepared to meet my death; here the affairs of my house concern me not, and I return empty-handed to my home; may I be as innocent on my return as I was when I set out." He had the satisfaction of leaving a son, Chiya, who was exceedingly learned in the Law, and of marrying his daughter to a relative of the Prince of the Captivity. His descendants by this daughter were worthy and learned princes. His second son, Aibu, was not intellectually distinguished. To him his father recommended certain rules of life, among others a preference for agriculture: "Rather a small plot of land than a great magazine for goods."

For eight and twenty years, until his old age, Rab devoted himself to the Sidra at Sora (219–247). When he died all his disciples accompanied his body to its last resting-place, and went into mourning for him. At the suggestion of one of them Babylonia mourned for him a whole year, and the practice of wearing wreaths of flowers and myrtles at weddings was suspended. All the Jews of Babylonia, except one, Bar-Kasha of Pumbeditha, mourned for the loss of their great Amora.

Much more original and versatile than Rab was his friend, his Halachic opponent, and his fellow-worker in the task of elevating the Jewish population of Babylonia, Samuel or Mar-Samuel, also called Arioch and Yarchinai (born about 180, died 257). In a certain sense this highly talented man was an epoch-maker in the history of the doctrine of Judaism. Nothing more is known of his youth than that he once ran away from his father. As a young man he followed the usual course, and went to Judæa in order to complete his education at the academy of the Patriarch Judah I. It has already been narrated how he there cured a disease of the eyes from which the ailing Patriarch suffered, and how he was nevertheless refused his nomination as a teacher by the latter; how he returned to his home before Rab, and was elevated after Shila's death to the dignity of Resh-Sidra.

Mar-Samuel was of an even character, avoiding enthusiasm and demonstrativeness. While his contemporaries confidently expected the renewal of miracles as of old before the appearance of the Messiah, he propounded the view that everything would still follow its natural course, but that the subjection of Israel to foreign rulers would come to an end. His intellectual energies were employed in three branches of knowledge: the explanation of the Law, astronomy, and medicine.

As an Amora he was inferior to Rab in the knowledge of the laws of the ritual, but far surpassed him in his acquaintance with the Jewish civil law. Samuel developed and enriched the Jewish law in all its branches, and all his decisions have obtained Halachic force. None of his decrees, however, were possessed of such important results as the one by which he declared the law of the land to be just as binding on the Jews as their own law (dina d'malchuta dina). The object of this precept was not to bring about a compulsory toleration of the foreign legislation, but to obtain its complete recognition as a binding law, to transgress which would also be punishable from the religious point of view. This was an innovation which, after all, could only be approved by reason of the relations existing between the Babylonian Jews and the Persian states. Samuel's principle of the sanctity of the law of the land was a manifest contradiction of older Halachas, which treated foreign laws as arbitrary, and did not consider their transgression to be punishable. But the Amoraim had already succeeded in reconciling so many conflicting laws that these old and repellent decisions, and this new and submissive principle, were able to exist side by side. In the sequel Samuel's recognition of the laws of the country was a means of preservation to the dispersed nation. On the one hand it reconciled the Jews to living in that country into which they had been cast by remorseless fate. Their religious consciousness did not feel at variance with the laws set up for their observance, which were seldom humane. On the other hand, the enemies of the Jews, who in all centuries took as their pretext the apparently hostile spirit of Judaism, and advised the persecution and complete extermination of the Jewish nation, could be referred to a Jewish law, which, with three words, invalidated their contention. The Prophet Jeremiah had given to the families which were exiled to Babylon, the following urgent exhortation as to their conduct in a foreign land: "Seek the peace of the city whither ye have been carried away captives." Samuel had transformed this exhortation into a religious precept: "The law of the state is binding law." To Jeremiah and Mar-Samuel Judaism owes the possibility of existence in a foreign country.

Samuel possessed altogether a particular affection for Persian customs, and was consequently in exceedingly good repute at the Persian court, and lived on confidential terms with Shabur I. His contemporaries called him therefore, although it is not known whether as a mark of honor or of censure, "The king Shabur," and also "Arioch," the Arian (partizan of the neo-Persians). His attachment to the Persian dynasty was so great that it supplanted the affection for his fellow-countrymen in his heart. When Shabur extended his conquests to Asia Minor, 12,000 Jews lost their lives on the occasion of the assault of Mazaca-Cæsarea, the Cappadocian capital. Samuel refused to go into mourning for the victims, giving as his reason that they had fought against Shabur. He thus formed a peculiar type; living in the midst of the full tide of Judaism, immersed in its doctrines and traditions, he raised himself beyond the narrow sphere of his nationality, and was ever ready to extend his sympathies to other peoples and to take note of their intellectual efforts. Rab, entirely taken up with the affairs of his own nation, refused to allow the customs of the Persians to exert any influence on those of the Jews, and even forbade these latter to adopt any practice, however innocent, from the Magi: "He who learns a single thing of the Magi merits death." Samuel, on the other hand, learnt many things of the Persian sages. With his friend Ablaat, he used to study astronomy, that noble science which brings mortal man into closer proximity with the Deity. The low-lying plain between the Euphrates and the Tigris, whose wide-extended horizon is unbounded by any hill, was the cradle of astronomy, which, however, soon degenerated in this region into the pseudo-science of astrology. By reason of the ideas instilled into him by his Jewish education, Samuel attached no importance to the art of casting nativities, and only occupied himself with astronomy under its most elevated aspect. He used to boast that he was "as well acquainted with the ways of the heavens as with the streets of Nahardea." He was unable, however, to calculate the erratic movements of the comets. It is impossible to determine the extent of his astronomical acquirements, or to discover whether he was in advance of his times or simply on a par with his contemporaries. Mar-Samuel turned his knowledge of astronomy to practical account; he drew up a settled calendar of the festivals, for the purpose of delivering the Babylonian communities from continual uncertainty with regard to the exact days on which the festivals would fall, and in order to relieve them of their dependence on Palestine for the determination of the time of the appearance of the new moon. Probably out of regard for the Patriarch, and in order not to destroy the unity of Judaism, Samuel refrained from communicating his calendar to the general public, and allowed the computation of the festivals to retain its former character of a secret art (Sod ha-Ibbur). He was blamed by certain persons, however, for having in any way interfered with the calculation of the calendar. The extent of Samuel's knowledge of medicine is even less known; he boasted of being able to cure all diseases but three. An eye-salve of his invention was in great request.

Between Samuel and the founder of the Sora academy there subsisted a fraternal harmony, although the Sidra of Nahardea was eclipsed by Rab. In his modesty he willingly subordinated himself to Rab. The celebrated Shila family was possessed of the precedence in the ceremony of paying homage to the Prince of the Captivity; by them it was relinquished to Samuel, and he, in his turn, surrendered it to his comrade in Sora, contenting himself with the third place. After Rab's death Samuel was recognized as the sole religious chief of Babylon, and continued in this capacity for ten years. At first Jochanan, of Judæa, hesitated whether to acknowledge him as an authority. In the letter which the principal of the schools of Tiberias sent to Babylonia, he addressed Rab by the title of "our teacher in Babylonia," while Mar-Samuel he called simply "our comrade." The teachers of Judæa did not, in fact, give him credit for the requisite knowledge of the Halachas, basing their conclusion upon the fact that he occupied himself with other branches of science. It was in vain that Samuel sent to Judæa a festival calendar calculated for sixty years; Jochanan remarked slightingly, when the fact came to his knowledge: "At any rate he is well acquainted with arithmetic." It was not until Samuel forwarded several scrolls, filled with investigations of certain little-known diseases of animals, that he began to be respected.

It was during this period (the third century) that there occurred simultaneously in the Roman and Parthian empires certain political catastrophes which were attended with the most important results. Through their influence history acquired an altered aspect, and considerable changes were effected in the state of things existing in these two countries and their dependencies. It was impossible for Jewish history to remain unaffected by these events. During the reign of the noble Alexander Severus occurred the overthrow of the Parthian dynasty, which, beginning with Arsaces, had subsisted during four centuries. A new and more vigorous race seized the scepter, and this change of dynasty gave rise to many revolutions both at home and abroad. The author of these changes was Ardashir, or Arbachshter, as he was called in his own language, a descendant of the race of ancient Persians (Arians). Such of the Persians as still remained true to their nationality, nourished a hatred against the impure dynasty of Arsaces, on account of the semi-Grecian origin of its members, their leaning to Greek views in matters of religion, their contempt for the national faith, and finally, their impotence to check the ever-increasing conquests of the Romans. It was with them that Ardashir united himself and conspired to overthrow Artabanus, the monarch who entertained so great a reverence for Rab. A decisive battle was fought, in which Artabanus succumbed, and the neo-Persian dynasty of the Sassanides was founded by the conqueror. The race which thus obtained the upper hand is known in history by the name of the neo-Persians; the Jewish authorities called them Chebrim (Chebre), and a deteriorated residue of the stock still subsists in India under the name of the Guebres. This revolution was attended by results as important in matters of religion as in politics. In place of the indifference with which the ancient rulers had regarded the primitive worship of fire, Ardashir manifested an ardent enthusiasm for it. He proudly called himself "the worshiper of Ormuz, divine Ardashir, the King of the Kings of Iran, the offspring of a heavenly race." He ordered such of the parts of the ancient Persian law (the Zend-Avesta) as were still extant to be collected, and commanded them to be regarded as the religious code. Zoroaster's doctrine of the twin principles of light and darkness (Ahura-Mazda and Ahriman) was everywhere enforced; the Magi, the sacerdotal caste of this cult, recovered their credit, their influence, and their power, while the partisans of the Greeks were persecuted with fire and sword. The fanaticism which was thus aroused in the Magians also caused them to direct their hostile attacks against the Christians, who resided in great numbers in the districts of Nisibis and Edessa in upper Mesopotamia (conquered by the Romans), and who possessed their own schools.

The Jews were not entirely exempt from the attacks of this fanaticism, and only escaped severe persecution through their solidarity, their centralization, and their powers of defense. In the first intoxication of victory the neo-Persians deprived the Jewish courts of the criminal jurisdiction which they had been permitted to exercise until then; the Jews were admitted to no offices, and were not even allowed to retain the supervision of the canals and rivers, but they do not seem to have complained very bitterly of these measures. They were even compelled to submit to restraints upon their freedom of conscience. On certain festivals, when the Magi worshiped light in their temple as the visible representation of God (Ahura-Mazda), the Jews were not suffered to maintain any fire on their hearths, nor to retain any light in their rooms. The Persians forced their way into the houses of the Jews, extinguished every fire and collected the glowing embers in their consecrated braziers, bringing them as an offering to their temple of fire. They also dug the corpses out of the graves, because, according to their notion, dead bodies lying in the bosom of the earth desecrated this "Spenta Armaita" (holy soil). For these various reasons the majority of the teachers of the Law were not greatly prepossessed in favor of the neo-Persians. When Jochanan heard that they had triumphantly invaded Jewish Babylonia, he was greatly concerned for the fate of his Babylonian brethren, but his anxiety was allayed by the assurance that the Persians were very poor and would therefore easily allow themselves to be bought off with bribes. By reason of their semi-savage state he referred to them as "the abandoned people into whose hands the Babylonian communities had been delivered." Levi bar Sissi, who was continually traveling to and fro between Judæa and Babylon, was anxiously questioned by the Patriarch Judah II as to the character of the conquering race. With obvious prepossession in favor of the vanquished Parthians, he described them and the victorious neo-Persians in the following words: "The former are as the armies of King David, but the latter resemble the devils of hell." Little by little, however, the fanaticism of the neo-Persians moderated, and there sprang up between them and the Jews so sincere a friendship that on their account the latter relaxed the severity of the Law, and even assisted now and again at their banquets. The teachers of the Law permitted the Jews to deliver up fuel which the Magi demanded of them on the occasion of the Festival of Light, and ceased to consider this act as a furtherance of idolatry, though it would certainly have been regarded as such by the old Halacha in similar cases. Even Rab, the essence of strictness, acquiesced in the demand of the Magi, and allowed the lamps to be brought from the open street into the houses on the Sabbath on the occasion of the Festival of the Hasmonæans, in order not to give offense to the prejudices of the ruling sacerdotal class. This mutual toleration, doubtless, first made its appearance under the rule of Shabur I (242–271), the liberal-minded monarch whose friendship with Samuel has already been mentioned. This magnanimous king assured Samuel that during the many wars which he had waged against the Romans in countries thickly populated with the Jews, he had never spilt Jewish blood, except on the occasion of the capture of Cappadocia, when 12,000 Jews had been put to death as a punishment for their stubborn resistance.

The radical changes which occurred about this time in the Roman empire were also attended with important effects and reactions on Jewish history. The death of Alexander Severus was the signal for anarchy, the many-headed hydra, to rage in all its terror in Rome and the Roman provinces. During the short space of half a century (235–284) the throne was occupied by nearly twenty emperors and as many usurpers, who willingly laid down their lives to obtain the gratification of their desire to wear the purple, if only for a day, and to decree executions by the hundred. From nearly every nation which Rome had subjugated there arose an emperor who enslaved the Italian Babylon. The time of retribution had come; the birds of prey were contending for the putrefying body of the State. It was during the time of Samuel (248) that the thousandth anniversary of Rome was celebrated by the assassin-emperor Philip, an Arab by birth and a robber from his childhood; but Rome was powerful wherever its legions were stationed, except in Rome itself, the city whose senate was obliged to accept with smiling face the humiliations which it experienced at the hands of the soldier emperors, and to sanction them in servile humility by Senatus-Consulta. The Roman empire was invaded on the one hand by the Parthians, on the other by the Goths, as if in fulfilment of the sibylline threats of punishment.

Valerianus had undertaken a campaign with the intention of recovering the districts which had been conquered by Shabur. Rome now experienced the further disgrace of seeing her emperor fall into his enemy's power, and suffer all the humiliations of slavery at the hands of the haughty victor. In the eastern provinces, in the neighborhood of the mighty Persian empire, disorder and dissolution had reached a still higher degree. A rich and adventurous native of Palmyra, Odenathus by name, had collected a band of wild and rapacious Saracens around him, and he and his troops made frequent incursions from his native city into Syria and Palestine on the one side, and the region of the Euphrates on the other, plundering and laying waste the country through which they passed. Odenathus had already assumed the title of Senator. Why should he not become the emperor of the Romans, like his fellow-countryman Philip? Odenathus was known in Jewish circles as the robber captain, "Papa bar Nazar," and to him was applied the passage in Daniel's vision: "The little horn coming up among the greater horns, and having eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." The predatory incursions of this adventurer were accompanied by results which were highly detrimental to the Jews of Palestine and Babylonia. He demolished the ancient city of Nahardea (259), which had formed the central point of the Jewish communities ever since the time of the Babylonian exile. It was many years before this town was able to recover itself from this destructive blow. The Amoraim of Nahardea, Samuel's disciples, were obliged to take to flight; they emigrated to the region of the Tigris. They were—Nachman, a son-in-law of the Prince of the Captivity, Sheshet, Rabba b. Abbuha, and Joseph b. Chama.

On the occasion of the destruction of Nahardea by Odenathus, Samuel's daughters, doubtless together with many others, were taken prisoners by the enemy and brought to Sepphoris. The freebooters speculated on heavy ransoms, which appeared to them more lucrative than the sale of the captives in the slave market, for it was well known that the Jews spared no expense in order to procure the release of their fellow-countrymen. Samuel's daughters had derived so much benefit from their father's profound knowledge of the Halacha that they succeeded in escaping the application of a strict law, which placed all maidens who had been taken prisoners on the same footing with those who had been dishonored, thus incapacitating them from contracting a spotless marriage. Before it was known whose daughters they were they had already recovered their freedom, and their assertion that their innocence had received no taint at the hands of the rough warriors was readily believed. When Chanina heard in Sepphoris that they were Samuel's daughters he strongly enjoined a relation of theirs, Simon b. Abba, to marry one of them.

Odenathus, the destroyer of Nahardea, gradually became a petty Asiatic prince of Palmyra or Tadmor, the oasis which King Solomon had converted into a city. The Roman empire was so feeble and tottering that it was this hitherto disregarded warrior who was obliged to oppose a bulwark to the conquests of the Persians on Roman territory. The great services which he thus rendered to the empire compelled his recognition (264) as co-emperor by Gallienus, a monarch characterized by his weakness and love of satire. Odenathus did not long enjoy this high dignity, for in 267 he fell by the hand of an assassin, instigated, as the story went, by Zenobia, his wife. After his death the regency devolved upon Zenobia, her two sons being still minors. Through her influence Palmyra, the city of the desert, was transformed into the home of imperial pomp, culture, and refined taste. A Christian report represents the empress Zenobia as a Jewess, but the Jewish authorities make no mention of this fact. No colors seem to be vivid enough for the Roman accounts of Zenobia in order to paint the picture of her strange personality. The palace of this second Semiramis, the ruins of which still bear witness to refined and artistic taste, was the meeting-place of original-minded geniuses, with whom the queen delighted to hold philosophical intercourse.

At her court resided Longinus, the refined and philosophical lover of the fine arts, who in his æsthetic work on the Sublime was unable sufficiently to express his admiration of the poetical contents of the Biblical account of the Creation, "Let there be light." Paul of Samosata, Bishop of Antioch, when accused of heresy, also found shelter at her court. Zenobia, his patroness, also seems to have had some leaning towards the fundamental truth of Judaism. The Jews were, nevertheless, not particularly well disposed towards the court of Palmyra. Jochanan, although not blind to the beauties of Greek, gave utterance to the most unfavorable opinions concerning the Palmyrene state: "Happy will he be who sees the fall of Tadmor." Subsequent generations were at a loss to explain this aversion.

There can be no doubt that many Jews took up arms against Zenobia, whose rule must also have extended over Judæa. It is related that a certain Zeïra bar Chanina having been brought up before Zenobia to receive sentence for an offense which seems to have been of a political nature, two of Jochanan's disciples, Ami and Samuel, presented themselves before the empress, in order to intercede on his behalf and obtain his liberation. They were most ungraciously received, however, by Zenobia. "Do you think," said she, "that because God has worked so many miracles for your nation you can hazard everything, simply putting your trust in Him?" Another occurrence, which is related by the same authority, seems also to have taken place during Zenobia's reign. A certain Ulla bar Kosher, of whom no further mention is made in history, was prosecuted for a political offense, and fled to Joshua ben Levi in Lydda. So much importance must, however, have attached to his capture that a troop of soldiers surrounded Lydda, and threatened to destroy the city if the fugitive were not delivered up to them. In this sad dilemma in which the life of a single individual must either be sacrificed or the safety of an entire community endangered, Joshua ben Levi prevailed upon Ulla to give himself up. He justified this course of conduct by referring to a Mishnaic law which permits the surrender to the political power of a culprit specially designated, in the case of many lives depending on such compliance. But the Jewish conscience, symbolized by the prophet Elijah, refused to take any part in bringing about the death of a man. Elijah, the ideal of pure zeal for Judaism, appeared to Joshua ben Levi and inspired him with remorse for having allowed himself to deliver up the culprit; he ought not to have relied solely on the simple preceptive law, but should also have been mindful of the "Mishna of the Pious," which widened and elevated their views concerning the precepts of duty.

Zenobia's reign, after enduring brilliantly for several years (267–273), was brought to a termination by Aurelian, who gained a hard-earned victory over the haughty empress, and brought her in golden fetters to Rome to figure in his triumph. Jochanan lived to see the fulfilment of his wish regarding Tadmor, and died a few years after its fall (279).

CHAPTER XX.
THE PATRIARCHATE OF GAMALIEL IV. AND JUDAH III.

The Amoraim in Palestine​—​Ami and Assi​—​The Brothers Chiya and Simon bar Abba in Tiberias​—​Abbahu in Cæsarea​—​The Emperor Diocletian​—​Complete Separation from the Samaritans​—​Character and Political Position of Abbahu​—​Huna in Babylonia​—​Chama's Generosity​—​Huna's Contemporaries and Successors​—​Judah ben Ezekiel​—​Chasda of Cafri​—​Mar Sheshet​—​Nachman bar Jacob​—​Zeïra.

279–320 C. E.

The period during which Christianity emerged from the position of a persecuted community and acquired that of an established church, marks a crisis in the development of the history of the world, and forms an epoch of transition also in the history of the Jews. The influence exerted by the mother-country began gradually to decline. It was Babylonia that now occupied the universal interest, while Judæa became a holy antiquity; it still possessed the power of arousing glorious memories, but was no longer the scene of memorable deeds. The teachers of this generation, indeed, were not few, including in their numbers the disciples of Chanina, Jochanan, and Resh-Lakish; and the youth of Babylonia, smitten with a holy longing, still preferred the schools of Palestine to those of their native land. But only very few of the principals of the schools were possessed of any eminence, and the most important of them, Ami, Assi, Chiya b. Abba, and Zeïra, were all Babylonians by birth. Abbahu, the only one who was a native of Judæa, was a person of much originality, but of no authority in the Halacha. The superiority of Babylon was so readily acknowledged that Ami and Assi, the leaders of Judæa, of their own accord subordinated themselves to Rab's successor. The Babylonian novices excelled their masters in the knowledge of the Law; Sora and Pumbeditha took the lead of Sepphoris and Tiberias. Even the Patriarchs of this period, Gamaliel IV and Judah III, possessed but an insignificant knowledge of the Law, and were both obliged to receive instruction from Amoraim. Under Judah the duty of examining witnesses concerning the appearance of the new moon degenerated into a mere pretense and a formality. When Ami expressed a desire that this duty should be seriously fulfilled, the Patriarch informed him that he had often understood from Jochanan, that as soon as, according to astronomical calculation, the thirtieth day was ascertained to be the beginning of the new month, it was permissible to press a witness into declaring that he had perceived the new moon, although this was not the case. The accurate calculation of the Festivals gradually made this burdensome custom of the examination of witnesses so superfluous that Judah's successor was able to entirely abrogate this duty of the Patriarchate. Of more importance appeared to Judah the ordering of the affairs of the communities and the schools, and to this point he devoted his entire attention. He commissioned the three principal Amoraim, Ami, Assi, and Chiya, to undertake a journey through the cities of Judæa, in order to inspect the various institutions of a religious or educational character, and to restore them in those places where they were falling into decay. In one town, where the envoys found neither teachers of the people nor of the young, they summoned the elders to bring before them the guardians of the city. On the armed guard of the town being brought into their presence, the envoys of the Nasi exclaimed: "These are in nowise the guardians of the city, but its destroyers; the true guards are the teachers of the young and of the people; 'If God protect not the house, in vain watcheth the warder.'"

The Patriarchate of Judah III falls in the reign of Diocletian and his co-emperor, who, by the strength of their rule and their sincere devotion, delayed for a time the decline of the Roman empire. Diocletian was not unfavorably disposed towards the Jews. He was, perhaps, all the more tolerant to them in proportion as he hated and persecuted the Christians; these latter he considered as the sole cause of the dissolution of the Empire, on account of their persistent struggle against the Roman state religion, and their zeal for conversion. The rigorous edicts which this monarch considered it necessary to decree during the last years of his reign (303–305), and which aimed at compelling the Christians to adopt the worship of idols, at closing their churches, and at prohibiting their meetings for divine service, did not include the Jews within their terms, although, curiously enough, the Samaritans do not seem to have escaped their action. Nevertheless, the enemies of the Jews appear to have exerted themselves in order to prejudice Diocletian against them. The emperor was secretly informed that the Patriarch and his companions made merry over his obscure parentage and his surname Aper (Boar), concerning which the emperor was especially sensitive. The story relates that the emperor, highly exasperated, commanded the Patriarch and the most distinguished members of the community to appear before him on a Saturday night, at Paneas, about twenty miles from Tiberias. As this command was not communicated to them until late on Friday, they found themselves in the desperate dilemma of undertaking a journey on the Sabbath, or disregarding the imperial summons. On their arrival at Paneas, Diocletian ordered them to bathe themselves for several days previous to appearing before him in audience. This insult was intended as an allusion to the uncleanliness with which the Jews were reproached. When at last they were brought before the emperor, the Patriarch and his companions assured Diocletian of their loyalty and faithfulness, and they are said to have convinced him that they had been iniquitously calumniated, whereupon he graciously dismissed them (about 297 or 298).

By reason of the constraint of sacrificing to the gods, under which Diocletian laid both Samaritans and Christians, the former were completely and forever excluded from the Jewish community. A peculiar fate controlled the relations of these two kindred and neighboring races, and prevented them from living on good terms for any length of time. At any moment which appeared favorable to mutual advances, trifling circumstances were sure to arise which widened the breach between them. After the destruction of the Temple the two peoples lived in tolerably good relations with one another; the Samaritans were admitted to be in many respects strict Jews. The war of Hadrian united Jew and Samaritan even more closely, and this friendly relation took so deep a root, that Meïr's decision to regard the Samaritans as heathens never gained general acceptance. Daily intercourse and business connections had bound them closely to each other. Even Jochanan did not hesitate to partake of meat prepared by the Samaritans. His successors were, however, more severe, and contrived to bring about a separation from the Samaritans. The occasion of this rupture is said to have been as follows: Abbahu having once ordered some wine from Samaria, an observation was made to him by an old man that the Law was no longer strictly observed in that country. Abbahu communicated this intimation to his friends, Ami and Assi, who investigated the matter there and then, and determined to declare the Samaritans as heathens, irrevocably and in every respect. This was perhaps the last resolution arrived at by the Synhedrion. No mention is made of the Nasi in connection with this decree, thus affording a further proof of the insignificance of the authority enjoyed by him, and of the depth to which the Patriarchate had fallen. This disunion had the effect of weakening both Jews and Samaritans. Christianity, shrewder and more active than its parent, Judaism, and more refined and supple than Samaritanism, its sister, gained the empire of the world soon after this rupture, and Jew and Samaritan alike felt its superior power. Golgotha, raised upon the height of the Capitol, pressed with a two-fold burden on Zion and Gerizim.

Notwithstanding the slight respect in which the Patriarchate of Judah III (280–300) was held, a phenomenon makes its appearance for the first time, which betrays indeed the poverty that existed in Palestine, but on the other hand shows the adherence of the Jews to the Patriarchal house of David, the last remnant of their ancient glory. It had always been the custom to announce to such communities as were situated at a distance, the resolutions arrived at by the Synhedrion, and especially the period of the festivals, by means of special messengers (Shaliach Zion, Apostoli). As a rule, men of merit and members of the Synhedrion were chosen to fill this honorable post, for they represented the highest authorities, and were also required to explain and apply the various resolutions. The more the numbers of the Jews in the Holy Land were lessened by revolts and wars, and the greater the part of the country that fell into the hands of the heathen, the more also that extortionate taxes spread poverty far and wide, the greater difficulty the Patriarchs found in defraying the expenses of their office from their own private means. They were obliged to turn to the wealthy communities of other countries to request contributions for their support. Originally, perhaps, these aids constituted a voluntary contribution (aurum coronarium), forwarded by the communities as a proof of allegiance on the occasion of the accession of a Patriarch as prince of the Jews. About this time, however, Judah III found himself obliged to send messengers to raise a regular tax (canon, pensio). Such an envoy was Chiya bar Abba, whom the Patriarch Judah authorized and sent abroad armed with peculiar powers: "We send you an excellent man, who possesses equal authority with ourselves until he return unto us." This same Chiya was, in fact, an excellent man, as poor in means as he was rich in character. It was only on account of grievous necessity that he allowed this post to be conferred on him by the Patriarch, and its acceptance constituted in so far a sacrifice that he was obliged to quit the Holy Land, which he had chosen as his residence in preference to his native country. During a long period he was supported by a rich and charitable family of Tiberias, named Silvani (Beth-Silvani), who furnished him, as a descendant of Aaron, with the tithes of the produce of their property. On a certain occasion, however, Chiya forbade them to commit a deed which another teacher of the Law declared to be lawful; and they, in return, made him feel his dependency on their tithes. Upon this he determined never again to accept tithes from any one, and, in order to avoid temptation, he resolved to quit Judæa.

It is in this Amora that a singular fault may first be remarked, which later on became more general, and produced the most disastrous consequences. Chiya b. Abba, namely, was so absorbed in the study of the oral Law, that in his devotion to it he neglected the reading of the written Law, the Bible. Being once asked why the word "good" does not occur in the first Decalogue, he made reply that he hardly knew if this word really did not occur in that place. Chiya bar Abba was of a gloomy disposition, and in the Halacha he followed the severe tendency which refused even to allow Jewish maidens to acquire the culture of the Greeks, although Jochanan himself had permitted it, and even encouraged it to a certain extent.

It may be noticed, as a sign of the times, that the heads of the schools at Tiberias were not natives of the country, but Babylonians who had emigrated thither from their own land. Ami and Assi occupied the post formerly filled by Jochanan, their master. They delivered their lectures in the peristyles, which certainly dated at least from the period of the Herods. But these buildings, which had been crowded with listeners in Jochanan's time, now testified to the declining importance of the Holy Land. Babylonia was the goal of such of the youth of Judæa as were desirous of studying. Ami and Assi only bore the modest title of "the Judges, or the respected descendants of Aaron in the Holy Land," and of their own accord subordinated themselves to the Babylonian authorities.

Of greater importance and originality was Abbahu of Cæsarea on the Sea, who was a striking contrast to Chiya and Simon, Abba's sons. He was wealthy, kept Gothic slaves, and had ivory seats in his house; his trade was the manufacture of women's veils. He understood Greek perfectly, which was the case with but few of his contemporaries; he frequented the society of educated heathens, and had his daughter taught Greek. He considered the knowledge of this language as an ornament to an educated girl, and supported his opinion by citing Jochanan's permission. The austere Simon bar Abba, who was hostile to all worldly education, reproved this conduct in the following terms; "He attributes this permission to Jochanan, because his daughter is learning Greek." In answer to this attack upon his veracity, Abbahu protested that he had really received this tradition from Jochanan's lips. By reason of his familiarity with contemporary civilization, which many people regarded as sinful, a verse of Ecclesiastes was applied to him: "It is good that thou takest up this (the study of the Halacha) and neglectest not that (the learning of the Greeks), for the pious are able to fulfil all duties." The Greek language was in fact so current among the Jews of Cæsarea, that they even recited the passage of Scripture relative to the unity of God (the Shema) in this tongue.

Abbahu was held in great esteem by the Roman Proconsul, and probably also by the Emperor Diocletian, on account of his profound learning, which was heightened by the charm of a dignified figure and a generous character. By means of this influence with the authorities he was enabled to avert many severe measures. A case of this description affords at the same time an insight into the general state of things at this period. Ami, Assi, and Chiya bar Abba, having once pronounced a severe punishment on a woman named Thamar, who was doubtless guilty of some breach of chastity, were denounced by her to the then Procurator, on a charge of encroaching on the jurisdiction of the Romans. The Jewish judges, fearful for the consequences of this denunciation, besought Abbahu to exert his influence on their behalf. He, however, answered that his efforts had failed to produce any effect, by reason of the existing desire of revenge, perhaps also on account of the beauty of the culprit. His reply was couched in characteristic terms, being so conceived that, at first, the words do not convey their actual meaning. The import of this document was in brief as follows: "I have settled everything as regards the three slanderers—Eutokos, Eumathes, and Talasseus—but I have labored in vain on behalf of the obstinate and refractory Thamar." The language of this letter, which is a model of the style of that period, is for the most part pure Hebrew embellished by a play upon words; the Greek proper names are translated into the approximate Hebrew terms. This style, when handled with skill, invests the Hebrew tongue with an inimitable charm; but it easily degenerates into empty pomp and trifling, which was already in Abbahu's age to some extent the case.

By reason of his extensive acquirements Abbahu was well fitted to engage in polemics against Christianity. During the time of Diocletian, Christianity had strained every nerve to obtain the empire of the world. The Roman legions were in part composed of soldiers who had adopted this religion, and Christianity therefore redoubled its efforts to obtain proselytes. Setting itself up in opposition to Judaism and heathenism, it brought down upon itself severe punishment at the hands of Diocletian and his co-emperor Galerius, on account of its arrogance. The Jews were possessed of intellectual weapons, and these they employed as long as they were permitted their free use. Like Simlaï, Abbahu attacked the Christian dogmas in the most uncompromising manner, and grounded his opposition, according to the manner of the time, upon a verse in the Bible (Numbers xxiii. 19): "If a man say of himself, 'I am God,' he lieth; 'I am the son of man,' he will repent it; 'I go to heaven,' he will not confirm it." The doctrine of the Ascension was especially a disputed point between the teachers of the Church and the synagogue, and its defender in Cæsarea was Jacob the Minæan, a physician by profession. In order to authenticate the Ascension, the Christians brought forward the Agadic tradition, according to which Enoch ascended into heaven without dying: in the words of the Bible, "and he (Enoch) was not, for God took him." They used this ambiguous phrase in support of their opinion. Abbahu, however, proved by parallel verses that, according to the true exegesis, the expression contained in this verse amounted to nothing more than a figure of speech for "to die." In the succeeding generation Abbahu might, perhaps, have paid with his life for his bold truthfulness and his exact interpretation.

Abbahu was one of those modest, gentle, yielding characters who are the less conscious of their own merit in proportion as it is great. When it was proposed to ordain him as Rabbi, he withdrew in favor of Abba of Acco, desiring first to see the distinction conferred upon the latter, who by this promotion would have been able to free himself from the burden of debt with which he was oppressed. Another event brings out yet more strongly evidence of his unassuming disposition. He was once delivering discourses, concurrently with Chiya b. Abba, in a strange town, the subject being treated by the latter according to the Halachic method, while he adopted the more edifying style of the Agada. As was only natural, the popular discourses of Abbahu, being intelligible to all, were better attended than Chiya's lectures, which were more difficult of comprehension. The latter having manifested some irritation at the neglect which fell to the lot of his discourses, Abbahu attempted to console him in the following words: "Thy teaching resembles the most precious stones, of which there are but few good judges; mine, on the contrary, is like tinsel, which delights every one." In order to appease him still further, Abbahu showed his offended companion all possible attention and marks of honor throughout the day; nevertheless, Chiya was unable to forget the slight which he considered had been inflicted on him. This anecdote cannot be regarded as altogether unimportant, proving as it does the decay of serious studies in Judæa at this time. The Halacha, the study of which wrinkled the brow and exercised the mind, no longer found listeners, and was obliged to quit the field before the light-winged Agada. Abbahu was even unwilling to lay any stress upon his modesty. He once exclaimed: "With all my boasted humility, I am still far behind Abba of Acco, for he is not even angry with his expositor (Meturgeman) when the latter dares to make his own additions to the analyses which are whispered to him." A flaw had thus made itself apparent in that method of teaching, which had formerly invested the discourses with so much solemnity and merit. Instead of being merely the organ of the lecturer, the Meturgeman permitted himself to introduce his own views into the expositions. A complaint was made that the interpreters only accepted their office out of conceit, in order to display their fine voice or their flowery language. This condition of things was aptly described in the following verse: "It is better to hear the severity of the wise than the song of fools." From this habit of the interpreters, the lectures degenerated into an empty word jingle.

Abbahu's generous and thoroughly noble views may also be gathered from another characteristic sketch, which at the same time affords a faithful picture of the customs of the period. It was usual on the occasion of a drought, an event of not uncommon occurrence in Judæa, for the most meritorious member of the community to offer up the prescribed prayers for rain. The person who on one occasion was recommended to Abbahu as the most worthy, happened to be a man of the worst fame, known to the wits as the "five sins" (Pentekaka). Being summoned before Abbahu, and questioned by the latter respecting his occupation, he admitted his infamous calling. "I am," said he, "a go-between; I clean out the play-house, carry the clothes to the bathers, divert the bathers with jokes, and play upon the flute." "And hast thou never done a good deed in all thy life?" demanded Abbahu. "One day," said Pentekaka, "when I was cleaning the theater, I saw a woman leaning against a column and weeping. In answer to my inquiry as to the cause of her grief, she told me that her husband was a prisoner, and that there was nothing left for her to do in order to procure his release but to sacrifice her honor. As soon as I heard this," continued Pentekaka, "I sold my bed, my coverlet, everything that I had in the world, gave the proceeds to the woman, and said to her: 'Go, free thy husband without paying the price of sin.'" At these words Abbahu could not contain himself, and exclaimed to Pentekaka, that medley of sublime virtue and vulgar dishonor: "Thou alone art worthy to pray for us in our trouble."

The theater at this period participated in the general immoral tone of the times, and was by no means a nursery of culture or refinement; buffoons diverted the crowd, and Judaism was often laid under contribution to furnish a subject for their coarse jokes. Abbahu, who was acquainted with events which occurred outside the Jewish world, complained of the frivolous manner in which Jewish institutions were held up to ridicule, and cites, among others, the following examples. A camel was brought into the theater in mourning trappings; thereupon ensues the following dialogue: "Why is the camel in mourning?" "Because the Jews, who strictly observe the Sabbatical year, cannot even get herbs to eat, and are obliged to live upon thistles. The camel mourns because its food is thus snatched away." Enter Momus (the buffoon) with his head shaved. "Why does Momus mourn?" "Because oil is dear." "And why is oil so dear?" "Because of the Jews. They consume everything on the Sabbath that they have earned during the week; not even wood enough remains for them to cook their food; they must, therefore, burn their bed, and being without a bed, must sleep upon the ground and wallow in the dust; in order to avoid uncleanliness, they use a great deal of oil, and that is the reason that oil is so dear." Thus had the degenerate Greeks prostituted the art of Aristophanes!

Abbahu also possessed a certain reputation in the study of the Law, but did not rank as an authority; his province was the Agadic exegesis. By reason, however, of his influence in the political world, his colleagues flattered him to excess—fearing to correct him even when he committed errors in teaching. It appears that Cæsarea, where Ushaya the elder had formerly established a temporary school, was now elevated by Abbahu to a par with Tiberias as an academical city, where the greatest Amoraïm of Palestine assembled. The synagogue in Cæsarea, whence had proceeded under Nero the first movement of revolt against the Romans, resulting eventually in the loss of independence to the Jewish state, was perhaps Abbahu's academy, and it appears to have still borne the fatal name of "the Revolution synagogue" (Kenishta di-meradta). In the same way as Simon bar Abba was accustomed to misfortune, Abbahu was attended by good luck, which did not forsake him even in his old age. He had two promising sons, Abimaï and Chanina. The latter was sent by him to Tiberias for the purpose of perfecting his education; but instead of applying himself to study, Chanina spent his time in burying the dead, whereupon his father reprimanded him in a letter which is remarkable for its laconic brevity: "Has Cæsarea, then, no graves, that I should be obliged to send thee for this purpose to Tiberias? Study must precede practical work." Abbahu was the last important personage of Judæa during Talmudical times. For fifteen successive centuries it had given birth to intellectual giants, judges, generals, kings, prophets, poets, soferim, patriots, teachers of the Law. It now ceased to produce, and brought forth no new celebrities into the world. When Abbahu died, says the legend, the statues of Cæsarea wept for him.

In Babylonia, on the contrary, the lively ardor and activity begun by Rab and Samuel, the founders of the study of the Law in their native land, continued to increase after their death. During the half-century over which their labors had extended, the study of the Law had taken so deep a root that the plant throve better in foreign than in its native soil. A lively emulation to acquire a knowledge of the Law, and to regulate their life by this standard, possessed all classes of society. It was accounted the highest honor to be recognized as a master of the Law (Zorba-me-Rabbanan), and the greatest disgrace to be reckoned among the ignorant. The immorality which had formerly obtained in Jewish Babylon vanished together with the gross ignorance, and domestic and public life fashioned itself according to the ideal which had been inculcated with such enthusiasm by the two great teachers, Rab and Samuel. Babylonia assumed, in many respects, the rôle of the Holy Land, even as regards the contributions to the priests, which seem, however, to have been applied to the uses of the teachers of the Law: learning was of more account than the priesthood. Babylonia had become a regular Jewish state, whose constitution was the Mishna, and whose public props were the Prince of the Captivity and the school assembly. This impetus to a higher life also communicated itself to the princes of the captivity, and they likewise applied themselves to the study of the Law. Nehemia and Ukban, Rab's grandchildren, and Nathan, their father, were appointed Resh-Galutas in this generation; by reason of their intimate knowledge of the Halacha they received the title of honor of Rabbana. This happy movement, which permeated all classes of Jewish society in Babylonia, was a sign that Judaism was not yet dead, but still possessed sufficient vigor to put forth new shoots. It was furthered to the utmost of their power by the successors of Rab and Samuel, of whom the most prominent were: Huna, who was the chief teacher of the Sora academy, and at the same time was regarded as religious head both in Babylon and abroad; Judah ben Ezekiel, who founded a new school in Pumbeditha, and introduced a new method of studying the Halacha; Nachman b. Jacob, who transferred his academy to Shekan-Zib on the Tigris, after the destruction of Nahardea (259); and finally Chasda, Sheshet, and Rabba bar Abbahu. Almost all of these Amoraïm possessed their own peculiar tendency, and thus variety and diversity were introduced into the narrow circle of scholars in the Babylonian schools.

Huna was born about 212, at Dio Kart, and died in 297. He was Rab's successor in Sora, and the authority of this period, to whom, as already narrated, the Amoraïm of Judæa voluntarily subordinated themselves. The story of his life presents at once a perfect picture of the manners of this period, and shows how indefatigable zeal for the Law went hand in hand with secular occupations, with agriculture and other industries. Although related to the Prince of the Captivity, Huna was not originally wealthy. He cultivated his small field with his own hands, and was not ashamed of his labor. He used to remark to his visitors, who came to him to judge their differences, "Bring me a man to till my ground and I will be your judge." Often he returned home from the field with his spade upon his shoulder. He was once perceived in this condition by Chama b. Anilaï, the richest, and at the same time the most charitable and generous man in Babylonia. This liberal man almost realized the ideal in his exercise of the Jewish virtue of being a father to the poor. Bread was baked day and night in his house for the relief of the poor, doors were placed on all sides, so that all who were needy might enter, and he who came hungry into the house left it satisfied. When Chama went out he held his hand continually in his purse, so as not to be obliged to keep those who felt ashamed to ask for charity in a painful situation while he was searching for his money.

At the time of the famine he caused wheat and barley to be left about at night for such persons as were prevented by their sense of honor from mixing with beggars. If an extraordinary tax was to be levied, Chama was certain to take a large share of the burden upon his own shoulders. This beneficent person possessed so much modesty, notwithstanding his extraordinary wealth, that whenever he met Huna returning from his labor, with his spade upon his shoulder, he begged to be allowed to carry it for him, out of reverence for the principal of the school. Huna, however, never permitted him to do this: "Thou art not accustomed to do such a thing in thine own town, therefore will I not allow it here."

Later on Huna grew rich, and had his fields cultivated by laborers, who received a portion of the crops; his cattle grazed on the steppes of South Babylonia. He employed his wealth in the most noble manner. On stormy days, when the winds which blow from the Syrian desert devastated the country and covered the city with ruins, he used to go about in a litter, in order to inspect the houses in Sora, and pull down any walls which might be in a falling condition. If the proprietors were not in a position to build their houses up again, Huna would have it done at his own expense. During the hours of meals, all the doors in his house were left open, and it was announced in a loud voice that all who were needy might enter and be satisfied. Other tales are related of his eager and assiduous charity. The indigent scholars who attended his school, which was situated in the neighborhood of Sora were maintained at his expense during the months of study, although their numbers were anything but small. Eight hundred attended his lectures, and there were thirteen expositors placed in different parts of the building, whose duty it was to make the discourse audible and intelligible to the whole assembly. The profound reverence with which his noble character, his erudition, and his modesty inspired his friends, was nevertheless incapable of blinding them to his faults, however small they were. The teachers of the Law were extremely severe with regard to one another's conduct, and were unrelenting towards any of their number who did not come up to the ideal of the Law.

It was during the time of Huna that public life in Babylonia, which was in most intimate connection with the schools, became organized in a manner that was unchanged for almost eight centuries. Gradually and involuntarily there was formed a hierarchy of the principal and subordinate dignitaries. The school, which met, as already mentioned, during certain months of the year, was called the Metibta (session), and the principal member of this assembly was known as the Resh-Metibta (Director). Next in rank to the President came the Reshe-Kalla (Professors), whose duty consisted in elucidating during the first three weeks of the Kalla month, the theme which the Principal would take as the text of his discourses. The judicial offices were separated from the professorships; as justice was still meted out, according to ancient custom, before the gates of the city, the judges were called, by reason of this circumstance, the Dayane-di-Baba (Judges of the Gate). In matters of theory they were subordinate to the Principal; they were appointed by the Prince of the Captivity, on whom they were dependent in matters of practice.

For forty years Huna presided over the Metibta, and by reason of his undisputed authority, Babylonia became completely independent of Judæa. He boldly acted upon the principle which his master Rab had been unable to carry through, and placed Babylonia on a footing of equality with Judæa as regarded the Law. "We consider being in Babylon just the same as being in the Holy Land," was a principle first established by Huna. He thus broke the last tie that united the land of the captivity to the mother-country, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he merely gave expression to the actual state of things, for, as a matter of fact, Babylonia far surpassed Judæa. Only as a mark of respect, or in case it was desired to obtain a solemn sanction of an opinion, was it usual in Babylonia to obtain a decision from the Holy Land. During the period over which Huna's labors extended, the Sora Metibta bore sway in Babylonia.

Huna died suddenly (297) when over eighty years of age, leaving his fame and his virtues to his son Rabba. The highest honors were paid to his remains by his friends and pupils. The funeral discourse opened with the following words: "Huna deserved that the Holy Spirit should descend upon him." His corpse was carried to Judæa, probably in execution of his dying wish; there it was met by the most distinguished men, such as Assi and Ami, who procured its interment in the vault of Chiya, another Babylonian. It gradually became a pious custom to be buried in Judæa's holy earth, to which was attributed an expiatory power. The resurrection was confidently expected to take place in that country, which, it was also believed, would be the scene of the coming of the Messiah. Those who had died in unhallowed countries would roll about in the light, loose earth, until they reached the Holy Land, where they would again be revivified. In place of living inhabitants, who were continually decreasing, Judæa was becoming every day more thickly populated with corpses. The Holy Land, which had formerly been one immense temple, inspiring great deeds and noble thoughts, was now a holy grave, which could render nothing holy but death. Of the numerous sanctuaries which had formerly existed, the dust alone now remained as an object of veneration. The entire central region of Judæa, the mountains of the King, was so exclusively inhabited by heathens, that it was proposed to declare it exempt from the tribute to the priests.

The antithesis and complement to Huna was his younger comrade, Judah ben Ezekiel (born 220, died 299). Although he had been a disciple of Rab, Judah seems to have inclined more to Samuel, whose characteristics he inherited. He possessed a strongly marked personality, and was highly talented, but at the same time had so many angles and edges that he was continually coming into collision with persons and circumstances. He was the descendant of an ancient Jewish stock, which was, perhaps, able to trace back its origin to families mentioned in the Bible, and for this reason he was unusually susceptible on the point of nobility of blood and purity of descent. A friend of simplicity in most matters, he vehemently attacked all who gave the preference to artificial refinement. Although he held the Holy Land in great reverence, he nevertheless blamed those who left Babylonia in order to be educated in the schools of Judæa, and was unrelenting towards such of his friends and pupils as emigrated thither. Judah founded for the first time an academy in Pumbeditha, which city, since the destruction of Nahardea, had become the center for northern Babylonia, as Sora was for the south. The Pumbeditha school, which, under Judah, was second only to the Soranian, attained in later times to the position of the leading academy. For nearly eight centuries it asserted its pre-eminence with but few intermissions, and was almost the last remnant of Jewish antiquity which beheld unmoved the birth of a new epoch.

True to the character of the inhabitants of his native city, Judah ben Ezekiel allowed the intellect to predominate so greatly over the heart, that he only consecrated one day in each month to prayer, the rest of the time being devoted to the study of the Law. He had already been distinguished by Samuel as the "acute," and later on became the creator of that acute system of dialectics which in former times had gained a transitory acceptance in Judæa, and now became current in and indigenous to Babylonia. This system differed materially from that employed by the Tanaites, for it went direct to the heart of the matter, while the other clung to the formulæ of the rules of interpretation. Judah's discourses were confined solely and simply to the treatment of matters of jurisprudence, as occult comparisons and distinctions, deductions and applications, here find their proper place, and theory and practice go hand in hand. The remaining portions of the Mishna were neglected at Judah's school; he seems, in fact, to have experienced a sort of aversion to studying such parts of it as contained Halachas treating of the laws of Levitical purity which had fallen into disuse. Under Judah's influence, the extensive subject-matter of the Law shrank to the contracted dimensions of a sphere in which nothing was included but what was applicable to reality and everyday life. He introduced the precise custom of communicating not only the matter of the traditions, but even the names of the persons who had handed them down. Nevertheless, it is remarkable that his own brother, Rami (R. Ami), questioned the accuracy of the traditions handed down by him, and even gave him the lie direct. "Accept not the decrees," he would often exclaim, "which my brother Judah puts forward under the name of Rab or Samuel; but thus and thus were they handed down." In another respect also, Rami was the opponent of his brother; he quitted Babylonia and emigrated to Judæa, although Judah severely censured such a course, which, he considered, constituted no slight crime against religion. He even regarded the return of the Babylonian exiles under Ezra and Zerubbabel as a violation of the Law, and considered that it had better never have come about; for the prophet Jeremiah had impressed on the captives that they should also die in Babylon. The only excuse which he found for the pious Ezra and his emigration was the assertion that the latter had led to Judæa such families as were of doubtful origin, in order to prevent their intermarrying with those whom he left behind.

As has already been mentioned, another of Judah's peculiarities was an extreme severity with regard to the purity of the race. He was so particular on this point that he delayed marrying his son Isaac long after the latter had reached maturity, because he was not certain whether the family from which he desired to procure him a wife was spotless beyond all dispute. Upon this point his friend Ulla pertinently remarked: "How do we know for certain that we ourselves are not descended from the heathens who violated the maidens of Zion at the siege of Jerusalem?" Judah's punctiliousness with regard to purity of descent caused him many a vexation. There once came to Pumbeditha a distinguished citizen of Nahardea, who claimed to be descended from the Hasmonæans, perhaps from the unfortunate king, Hyrcanus II, who had resided in Babylonia for several years. This Nahardean, who was connected with the most esteemed families of his native town, was exceedingly vexed that Judah ben Ezekiel should be conceded the priority on every occasion, and once exclaimed scornfully: "Who is this Judah bar Sheveskeel?" When this tale came to Judah's ears, he excommunicated the Nahardean for his irreverence, and when he heard that the latter actually called all persons slaves, he was so carried away by his passion that he publicly stigmatized him as a descendant of slaves. In consequence of this insult, the Nahardean complained to Nachman, the son-in-law of the Prince of the Captivity. Nachman, who was as overbearing as Judah was passionate, sent the latter a summons to appear before him to justify his conduct. The Principal of Pumbeditha was not a little astonished at thus being called upon to give an account of his conduct to Nachman, who was not only younger, but of less consequence than himself. Huna, however, with whom he took counsel, prevailed upon him to comply with this summons out of regard for the Prince of the Captivity.