Loe raamatut: «History of the Jews, Vol. 2 (of 6)», lehekülg 39

CHAPTER XXII.
THE LAST AMORAÏM

Decline of the Roman Empire – Ashi and the Redaction of the Talmud – Jezdijird II – The Jews under the Emperors Theodosius I and his successors – The extinction of the Patriarchate – Chrysostom and Ambrosius – Fanaticism of the Clergy – Jerome and his Jewish Teachers – Mar-Zutra – Fifth and Sixth Generations of Amoraïm – The Jews under Firuz – Jewish Colonies in India – Completion of the Babylonian Talmud – Its Spirit and Contents.

375–50 °C. E

The period during which the Roman empire was approaching a state of complete dissolution marks an epoch of decay and regeneration, destruction and rejuvenescence, ruin and reconstruction, in the history of the world. The storm, which burst in the north, under the wall of China, brought down a black thunder-cloud in its train, and shattered the giant tree of the Roman empire, which, sapless and leafless, had only continued to exist thus far by the force of gravity; nothing now remained but a wreck of splinters, the toy of every capricious wind. The uncouth Huns, the scourge of God, drove before them horde upon horde, tribe upon tribe, whose names the memory refuses to retain or the tongue to utter. The period of the migration of the nations confirms almost literally the words of the prophet: "The earth staggers like a drunken man, and her sins lie heavy upon her; she falls and cannot rise, and the Lord Zebaoth punishes the bands of heaven in heaven, and the kings of earth upon earth." Small wonder indeed that in the Goths, the first wave of the migration of tribes which inundated and devastated the Roman empire, the Jews did not fail to discover Gog from the land of Magog, of whom a prophet had said: "Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy bands, and many people with thee" (Ezekiel xxxviii. 9).

In this remarkable alternation of disappearance of nations and their formation, the conviction forced itself upon Jewish thinkers that the Jewish people was eternal: "A nation arises, another vanishes, but Israel alone remains forever." The barbaric tribes, the avengers of the long-enslaved nations, settled on the ruined sites of the Roman empire, wild plants only to be cultivated by the master-hand of history, uncouth savages, to be civilized by earnest teaching. In this iron time, when no man could be certain of the next day, the leaders of Judaism in Palestine and Babylonia felt deeply the necessity of placing the treasure which had been confided to their hands in safety, so that it might not be imperiled by the accidents of the day. An epoch of collection commenced, during which the harvest which had been sown, cultivated, and reaped by their forefathers was brought under shelter. The subject-matter of tradition, which had been so greatly augmented, enriched and purified by a long series of generations and the diversity of schools, was henceforward to be set in order. This tendency of compilation and arrangement was represented by Ashi.

Rabbana Ashi (born 352, died 427) was the son of Simaï, and the descendant of an ancient family. He so early gave evidence of complete maturity of mind, that while still a youth he restored the long-desolate Soranian academy to its former place of honor. He was certainly not more than twenty when he became principal of that school. Coming of a wealthy family, Ashi possessed many forests, the wood of which he had no compunction in selling to feed the holy fire for the worship of the Magi. It is remarkable that nothing is known of the history of his youth and education; there is even no indication of the reason which induced him to infuse new life into the half-decayed Soranian academy; probably Sora was his native town. He pulled down and rebuilt the school which had been erected several centuries previously by Rab, and which was already beginning to exhibit signs of decay; and in order that no delay should occur in the rebuilding, he brought his bed on the site, and remained there night and day until the gutters of the house had been put up. The Sora school was built on an elevation so that it might overlook the whole city. Ashi's splendid qualities so impressed his contemporaries that he was regarded as the supreme authority, a position to which no person had been able to attain since Raba's death. Ashi united thorough knowledge of the entire body of the Law, characteristic of Sora, with Pumbedithan dialectics, and thus satisfied all claims. His contemporaries conferred upon him the distinguishing title of Rabbana (our teacher). During the fifty-two years over which his public labors extended, seven principals succeeded each other in Pumbeditha. Nahardea, which had made no figure since its destruction by Ben-Nazar (Odenath), also began to come into some repute again on account of the academy opened there by Amemar (390–420). But none of these teachers really disputed the supremacy with Ashi, and Sora again occupied the honorable position into which it had been placed by Rab. The oldest Amoraim, Amemar and Mar-Zutra, voluntarily subordinated themselves to Ashi's authority, and resigned to him the task of restoring unity. The most distinguished among them, even the two successive Princes of the Captivity of this period (Mar-Kahana and Mar-Zutra I), submitted to his orders. It was in Sora that the Princes of the Captivity now received the homage of the delegates of all the Babylonian communities; this ceremony had formerly taken place, first at Nahardea, and then, during the prime of its academy, at Pumbeditha. This homage was paid every year on a Sabbath, at the commencement of the month of Marcheshvan (in the autumn), and this Sabbath was known as the "Rigle" of the Prince of the Captivity. The extraordinary assemblies of the people, which met at the command of the Prince of the Captivity, were henceforward also held in Sora, and for this reason the Patriarchs were obliged to repair to that town, even though they had fixed their residence in some other place. Ashi had thus made Sora the center of Jewish life in Babylonia, and had connected it with everything of public or general interest. The splendor with which its numerous assemblies invested it, was so great that Ashi expressed surprise that the heathen Persians could be witnesses of it all, and not feel themselves moved to embrace Judaism.

In consequence of this concentration of power in his own person, Ashi was enabled to undertake a work, the consequences of which were incalculable, both as regards the fate and the development of the Jewish people. He began the gigantic task of collecting and arranging the explanations, deductions, and amplifications of the Mishna, which were included under the name "Talmud." The immediate motive which suggested this undertaking was undoubtedly the consideration that the immense accumulation of matter, the result of the labor of three generations, ought not to be allowed to vanish from memory through lack of interest. This would certainly be the case if some means were not provided of impressing it easily upon the mind. Ashi even then complained of the diminution of the power of memory in his time as compared with times gone by, without, however, taking into account that by reason of the accumulation of matter the memory was infinitely more charged than formerly. His successful treatment of this exuberant material was rendered the easier by the fact that he was permitted to work at it for more than half a century. Every year on the occasion of the assembly of all the members, disciples, and pupils during the Kalla months, certain tractates of the Mishna, together with the Talmudical explanations and corollaries, were thoroughly gone into, and thus in about thirty years more than fifty of them were completely arranged. In the latter half of his period of office Ashi went through the whole of the matter which had thus been put in order for the second time. What remained after this double process of winnowing and testing was accepted as of binding force.

This arrangement of the bulky matter of the Talmud was not committed to writing. The conservation in writing of oral tradition, the incarnation, as it were, of what is spiritual, was still regarded as a crime against religion, more especially at this period, when Christendom had taken possession of the Holy Scriptures as its own spiritual property, and considered itself as the chosen part of Israel. According to the views of the times, Judaism was now possessed of no distinguishing feature, except the Oral Law. This thought frequently found expression in a poetical form – "Moses requested permission to commit to writing the Mishna or Oral Law, but God saw in advance that the nations would one day possess a Greek translation of the Torah, and would affirm: 'We are Israel; we are the children of God,' while the Jewish people would also declare, 'We are God's children,' and He therefore gave a token for this purpose: 'He who possesses my secret (mysterion) is my son.' This secret is the Mishna and the oral exegesis of the Law. Therefore did the prophet Hosea say: 'Were I to write the fulness of the Law, Israel would be accounted as a stranger.'"

It is not at all astonishing that this multitude of ordered details could be retained by the memory, for before the time of Ashi they had been retained though not yet reduced to order. By his compilation of the Talmud, Ashi completed the work which had been begun by Judah two centuries previously. But his task was infinitely more difficult. The Mishna embraced only the plain Halacha in artistically constructed paragraphs of the Law. The Talmud, however, gave also the living part of the development of the Law and its spiritual tenor, and this with dialectic exactitude. The first impulse to the compilation of the Talmud marks one of the most important epochs in Jewish history. From this time forward the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Babli) became an active, potent, and influential element. Ashi, however, did not entirely complete this gigantic task; for, although he directed his ardor wholly to the work of compilation, the creative power was not so completely conquered either in him or his contemporaries, that they were content to entirely restrict their energies to the work of compilation. On the contrary, Ashi solved many of the questions which had been left doubtful, or had been unsatisfactorily answered by the preceding Amoraïm, and his decisions are as forcible and ingenious as they are simple; in fact, one often wonders how they could have been overlooked by his predecessors. About this time the Jerusalem or Palestinean Talmud was compiled and concluded. The name of the compiler is not known. The latest authorities whose names have been preserved are Samuel bar Bun and Jochanan bar Moryah, contemporaries of Ashi.

The period of Ashi's activity falls within the reign of Jezdijird (400–420), a king of the Sassanian dynasty, who was favorably disposed towards the Jews. The Magians gave to this noble prince the surname of "Al Hatim" (the sinner), because he refused to surrender his own will and allow himself to be ruled by them. He was exceedingly well affected towards the Jews, and at the same time favorably disposed towards the Christians. On the days of homage there were present at his court the three representatives of the Babylonian Jews: Ashi, of Sora; Mar-Zutra, of Pumbeditha; and Amemar, of Nahardea. Huna bar Nathan, who, if he was no Prince of the Captivity, must nevertheless have been possessed of considerable influence, held frequent intercourse with Jezdijird's court. This mark of attention on the part of a Persian king, who proclaimed himself the child of the Sun, a worshiper of Ormuz, and the King of the Kings of Iran, may be regarded as a proof of high favor.

Ashi was devoid of all exaggerated enthusiasm, and seems to have attempted to suppress the hope of the coming of the Messiah, which kept the minds of the Jews in greater suspense than ever at this time of the migration of nations and of universal revolution, when sin-laden Rome was suffering the punishment of God. An ancient sibylline saying, attributed to the prophet Elijah, was current, according to which the Messiah would appear in the eighty-fifth jubilee (between 440 and 470 of the common era). Such messianic expectations were always certain of creating enthusiasts, who aimed at converting their silent belief into fact, and without exactly intending to deceive, attempted to carry away such of the crowd as were of like opinions, and to excite them to such a pitch that they would willingly sacrifice their lives. In point of fact such an enthusiast did appear during Ashi's time in Crete, and he gained as adherents all the Jewish congregations of this important island, through which he had traveled in a year. He promised them that one day he would lead them dry-footed, as Moses had formerly done, through the sea into the promised land; he is said to have adopted the name of the great lawgiver. For the rest, this Cretan Moses was able to convince his followers so thoroughly of his divine mission, that they neglected their business, abandoned all their property, and only waited for the day of the passage through the sea. On the appointed day, Moses the Messiah marched in front, and behind him came the entire Jewish population of Crete, including the women and the children. From a promontory projecting out into the sea, he commanded them to throw themselves fearlessly into the ocean, as the waters would divide themselves before them. Several of these fanatics met their death in the waves; others were rescued by sailors. The false Moses is said, however, never to have been found again. It was against such false hopes as these, whose consequences were so sad, that Ashi warned the Jews. At the same time he suggested another interpretation of the prophecy which had been set in circulation: "It is certain," said he, "that the Messiah cannot appear before this time, before the eighty-fifth jubilee, but after the lapse of this period the hope, although not the certainty, of his coming may be entertained." Ashi died, greatly respected by his contemporaries and the Jews of after-times, at a ripe old age (427), two years before the capture of Carthage by Genseric. This Prince of the Vandals, who wrested from Rome her accumulations of spoil, also carried to Africa the vessels of the Temple, which Titus had added in triumph to the plunder of so many nations. Like the sons of Judæa, the Temple vessels wandered much.

By reason of the Patriarchate, Judæa was still regarded as their head by the Jewish communities of the Roman Empire. During this period it presents an even more gloomy picture of complete decay than formerly. The oppression of hostile Christianity bore all too heavily upon the country, and stifled the impulse to study. Tanchuma bar Abba, the chief supporter of the later Agada, is the last Halachic authority of Judæa. There also, as in Babylonia, the last Amoraïm collected the traditions and planned and arranged the Jerusalem, or, more correctly, the Judæan or Western Talmud (Talmud shel Erez-Israel, Gemara di Bene Ma'araba). But so defective is the history of Judæa that not even the names of the compilers or the originators of the movement are known. Doubtless the example of Babylonia suggested the making of this collection. Only so much is certain, that Tiberias, the seat of the Patriarchate and of the School, was the birthplace of the Jerusalem Talmud.

It was during this period that the Patriarchate, the last remnant of former times, met with complete destruction. Three patriarchs are mentioned by name: they are Gamaliel V, successor of Hillel II, his son Judah IV and Gamaliel, the last (370–425). But only indistinct traces of their activity can be recognized. It is true that they still bore the pompous rather than influential title of Highness, together with its attendant privileges, and that they still drew voluntary subsidies from the communities of the Roman empire, which their envoys were wont to collect from the congregations. But their authority was considerably diminished. The sole influence of the Patriarchs now consisted in the one fact, that they excluded from the Jewish community its apostate members, who had gone over to Christianity either voluntarily or through deceit or persuasion. But even this power proud Christianity refused to recognize. By means of the secular arm, the Bishops compelled the Patriarchs and the heads of the communities, who bore the name of Primates, to readmit into the community such of the members as had been excommunicated. But Theodosius the Great (379–395), although continually incited by the Catholic clergy, Ambrosius, among others, to persecute the Arians and other heretics, consistently protected the Jews against their fanatical attacks. He promulgated a law confirming to the Patriarchs and Primates the right of excommunicating the members of their community, and forbidding the secular authorities to meddle with the domestic affairs of the Jews. He proved to Gamaliel V his justice towards the Jews by condemning to death the consular agent Hesychius, whom the Patriarch had accused before him of surreptitiously gaining possession of important documents. For the rest, nothing more is known of the circumstance to which these documents referred.

Theodosius frequently had to restrain the religious zeal of the Christians, which regarded as heroism such deeds as the disturbance of the religious devotions of the Jews, the pillaging or destruction of the synagogues, or their appropriation and conversion into churches. The principal fanatics against the Jews at this period were John Chrysostom of Antioch, and Ambrosius of Milan, who attacked them with the greatest fierceness.

The former, who had been called from the solitude of the cloister to the ministry, thundered against the Jews from the pulpit with his bombastic and cynical eloquence; even made them the subject of six successive sermons. The behavior of the Jews of Antioch, however, was indeed too provoking: without any active endeavor on their part, Christians became interested in their customs, their divine service, and their court of law. On Sabbaths and festivals many Christians, especially of the female sex, ladies of rank and women of lower position, met together regularly in the synagogues. They listened with devotion to the blowing of the cornet on the Jewish New Year, attended the solemn service on the Day of Atonement, and participated in the joys of the Feast of Tabernacles. They were all the more attracted by the fact that all this had to go on behind the backs of the Christian priests, and that the neighbors had to be entreated not to betray them. Christians preferred to bring their lawsuits before Jewish judges, the form of the Jewish oath appearing more imposing and forcible to them. It was against such voluntary honoring of Jewish institutions by the Christians that Chrysostom directed the violence of his Capuchin sermons, bestowing all manner of harsh names upon them, and proclaiming the synagogues as infamous theaters, dens of robbers, and even still worse places.

Ambrosius, of Milan, was a violent official, ignorant of all theology, whom a reputation for violence in the church had raised to the rank of bishop; he was even more virulent against the Jews. Once when the Christians of Rome had burnt down a synagogue, and the usurper Maximus commanded the Roman Senate to rebuild it at the expense of the State, Ambrosius called him a Jew. The Bishop of Callinicus, in Northern Mesopotamia, having caused a synagogue situated in that district to be burnt to the ground by monks, Theodosius ordered him to build it up again at his own expense, and punished all who had participated in the act (388). Hereupon Ambrosius' anger was most violently inflamed, and in the epistle which he addressed to the emperor he employed such sharp, provoking terms, that the latter was thereby led to revoke his order. Ambrosius accused the Jews of despising the Roman laws, and mockingly taunted them with the fact that they were not permitted to set up any emperor or governor in their midst, nor to enter the army or the Senate, nor even to eat at the table of the nobles; they were only there for the purpose of bearing heavy taxes. To this pious misconduct Theodosius endeavored to put a stop by means of laws. Starting from the premise that Judaism was not prohibited from existing in the Roman empire by any law, he was desirous of extending to it the protection of the law against violent attacks. He therefore enjoined the Comes of the East to severely punish the Christian religious rioters and desecrators of synagogues (393). But of what avail could the imperial edicts and commands be against the tendency of the times to be malignant, to accuse of heresy, and to persecute? The Jews could not complain, for they were not treated any worse than the adherents of the various Christian sects whose opponents had gained the upper hand. The savageness which the invasion of the barbarians had introduced into the historical parts of the world tainted the province of religion with its contagion; Vandalism reigned everywhere, in the Church as well as in the State. Meanwhile the exceptional position of the Jews in the Roman empire had been either re-established or confirmed by Theodosius I. Constantius' law relative to the possession of slaves was revived afresh; any Jewish slave-owner who admitted his slaves into the pale of Judaism was to be severely punished. The privilege of exemption from the onerous municipal offices on the grounds of religious scruples, which the Jews had succeeded in obtaining under his predecessors, was abolished by Theodosius.

This emperor bequeathed his dominions to his two sons, and thus lastingly divided the Roman world into two parts, and into two different camps, thereby intensifying the strained and unsympathetic relations of the different parties to each other. Henceforward the Jews of the Roman empire belonged to different masters, part of them being subjects of the eastern, others of the western empire. Arcadius, the eastern or Byzantine emperor (395–408), was a monarch merely in name; his all-powerful chamberlains, Rufinus and Eutropius, were extremely favorable to the Jews. Rufinus loved money, and the Jews had already discovered the magic power of gold to soften obdurate hearts. Numerous laws were therefore promulgated in their favor. One of these laws decided (396) that the Jews should remain possessed of independence in the matter of choosing their own market inspectors (Agoranomos), and that whosoever should dare encroach on this right should be liable to severe punishment by imprisonment. Another law of the same year protected the "illustrious patriarchs" from insult. In Illyria synagogues were attacked, probably by the clergy, who would have liked to see the Jewish houses of prayer as completely destroyed as the heathen temples; thereupon Arcadius (or Eutropius) commanded the governors to resist this movement with all possible energy (397). In the same year he also re-enacted and confirmed the law of Constantius, whereby the patriarchs, as also all the religious officials of the synagogue, were exempted from the burden of the magistracy, as were the Christian clergy. Another right was also preserved to the Jews by Arcadius' administration (February, 398); they were allowed to retain the privilege of submitting their lawsuits to the patriarch and other Jewish arbitrators, if both parties consented to this course, and the Roman authorities were obliged to execute these judgments, without prejudice to the fact, however, that in so far as their religion was not concerned, they were subject to the Roman law. We must not be surprised by a capricious change under the arbitrary rule of the Byzantine court: a law was published in 399, subjecting all Jews, even the religious superiors, to the Curial burdens. This had, perhaps, some connection with Eutropius' fall in the same year.

Not much is known of the course of conduct pursued towards the Jews by the Emperor of the West, the feeble Honorius, or his master, Stilicho. The abolition of exemption from the Curies pronounced against the communities of Apuleia and Calabria does not prove that a systematic hostility already existed against the Jews. Another law (of April, 399) forbade, in the name of the Western Emperor Honorius, and under severe penalty, the collection of the patriarch's tax throughout the whole extent of the prefecture. Such sums as had already been received were confiscated to the imperial treasury. The motive of this prohibition may, however, have been that the Western Emperor regarded with envious eye the withdrawal of such considerable sums into the prefecture of his brother. But as if the legislation of this period desired to ridicule its own capriciousness, this prohibition was revoked five years later, and the Jews were henceforward permitted to collect the Patriarch's tax as before, and to forward it without concealment (404). While on the one hand Honorius forbade the Jews and the Samaritans to take any share in the military service, on the other hand, he protected the Jews from molestation on the part of the authorities, and decided by an edict that the Jews should not be summoned before the court on the Sabbath or the festivals (409).

The Middle Ages really begin for Judaism with Theodosius II (408–450), a good-natured but monk-ridden emperor, whose weakness afforded impunity to the fanatical zeal of many a bishop, and offered encouragement to cruelty. Edicts of this emperor prohibited the Jews from building new synagogues, from exercising the office of judge between Jewish and Christian suitors, and from possessing Christian slaves; they also contained other prohibitions of less interest. It was under this emperor that the Patriarchate finally fell, although Gamaliel (Batraah), the last of the patriarchs, enjoyed great distinction at the imperial court, such as none of his predecessors had ever possessed. Beside the title which had long been borne by the Patriarchs, the high dignity of Prefect (Præfectura), together with a diploma of honor (codicillus honorarius), had been bestowed upon him, and although these were but hollow honors, they were of great importance at a time when appearances constituted everything. It is not known what was the particular merit for which Gamaliel gained this distinction, but it was probably on account of his medical acquirements. He was a physician, and was credited with the discovery of a much-approved remedy for diseases of the spleen. In this elevated position Gamaliel considered himself privileged to be lax in his observance of the emperor's exceptional laws against the Jews. He therefore built new synagogues, exercised jurisdiction in disputes between Jews and Christians, and disregarded other similar imperial commands. In consequence of this, Theodosius deprived him of all his higher dignities, took from him his diploma of honor, and suffered him to retain only such distinctions as he had enjoyed as Patriarch (415). But Theodosius in nowise abolished the Patriarchate during Gamaliel's lifetime; it was not until after the latter's death that this occurred, his male heirs having died, it appears, at an early age (425). Thus, with Gamaliel (Batraah) the last remnants of the noble stock of the house of Hillel disappeared. For three and a half centuries this house had stood at the head of the spiritual affairs of Judaism; many of its members had been promoters of the Law, of liberty, and of national feeling, and the history of their lives had become an important part of the history of the Jewish nation. Fifteen Patriarchs had succeeded each other during this lapse of time; two Hillels, three Simons, four Judahs, and six Gamaliels.

During the reign of Theodosius in the East, and Honorius in the West, Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, notorious for his love of quarreling, his violence, and his impetuousness, was suffered to illtreat the Jews and to drive them out of that town. He assembled the Christian mob, incited them against the Jews by his excessive fanaticism, forced his way into the synagogues, of which he took possession for the Christians, and expelled the Jewish inhabitants half naked from the town which they had come to regard as their home. Disdaining no means, Cyril handed over their property to be pillaged by the mob, ever greedy of plunder (415). Thus the Christians inflicted on the Jews of Alexandria the same fate as 370 years before had fallen to their lot at the hands of the heathens. The Prefect Orestes, who took this barbarous treatment of the Jews greatly to heart, was powerless to protect them; all he was able to do was to lodge a charge against the bishop, but the latter gained his cause at the court of Constantinople. How great was the fanaticism of this bishop may be seen from what occurred in Alexandria soon after the expulsion of the Jews. Not far from this city was a mountain called Nitra, where dwelt an order of monks whose thirst for the crown of martyrdom had almost made wild animals of them. Incited by Cyril, these monks fell upon Orestes, and almost stoned him to death as a punishment for not sanctioning the expulsion of the Jews. It was this same fanatical band that tore to pieces the body of the celebrated philosopher Hypatia, who had charmed the world by her profound science, her eloquence, and her purity. Only one member of this unlucky community of Jews, Adamantius by name, a teacher of the science of medicine, was induced by this disaster to allow himself to be baptized; he repaired to Constantinople, and was there granted the right to settle in Alexandria. All the rest willingly bore banishment and affliction for the sake of their convictions.

Not so resolute were the Jews of the little town of Magona (Mahon) in the Spanish island of Minorca, in the Mediterranean. Severus, the bishop of that place, burnt their synagogues, and harassed them with attacks in the streets, until at last he succeeded in compelling many of them to embrace Christianity. The Jews had settled early – probably in the time of the Roman Republic – in Spain and in the surrounding islands, and lived there in friendly relation with the original inhabitants. Even after the Iberians had become Christians, the husbandmen still caused the produce of their fields to be blessed by the Jews. It was in Spain that the Christian clergy first aroused the fanaticism of the Christian population against the Jews. The same bishop Osius (Hosius) of Cordova, who had sat in the Council of Nice, and had convoked a council at Illiberis (Elvira, near Granada), also succeeded in passing a resolution which prohibited the Christians, under pain of excommunication, from trading with the Jews, contracting marriages with them, or causing them to bless the produce of their fields. Nothing now remained for the Jews of Christian countries but to take up the weapons of mockery; they accordingly made merry over their enemies behind their backs, which has everywhere and at all times been the manner in which the weaker party has attempted to lighten its burdens. At times also they made use of coarse jokes to express their feelings with regard to Christianity. Such jokes were most usually made on the occasion of the feast of Purim, when the cheerfulness of the festival led to intoxication, and intoxication to irresponsible expressions and demonstrations. On this day the Jews in their merriment were accustomed to hang Haman, their arch-enemy, in effigy on a gallows, and this gallows, which used afterwards to be burned, took, accidentally or intentionally, the form of a cross. Naturally the Christians complained of profanation of their religion, and the Emperor Theodosius II directed the ruler of the province to put a stop to such misconduct by the threat of severe punishment, without being able, however, to repress it. On one occasion this carnival pleasantry is said to have led to horrible consequences. The Jews of Imnestar, a small Syrian town between Antioch and Chalcis, having erected one of these Haman's gallows, were accused by the Christians of having suspended a Christian lad crosswise upon it, and of having flogged him to death. Thereupon the emperor ordered the culprits to be punished (415).