and communion. Believers scarcely ever travelled without letters of recommendation, which testified the purity of their faith; and this procured them a hospitable reception wherever the name of Jesus Christ was known. Calmet is of opinion that the two last epistles of St. John may be such kind of letters of communion and recommendation as were given to Christians who travelled.

Instances of hospitality among the early Greeks abound in the writings of Homer, whose delineations of manners and customs reflect so much light on the Old Testament, especially on the Pentateuch; and that ancient hospitality, which the Greeks considered as so sacred and inviolable, is still partially preserved. When the traveller makes a second tour through the country, he can hardly do any thing more offensive to the person by whom he was entertained in his first journey, than by not again having recourse to the kindness of his former host. Travelling would, indeed, be impracticable in Greece, if it were not facilitated by this noble sentiment; for the Protogeroi are not found in all parts of the country, and the miserable khans or caravanserais are generally constructed only in towns or in high

ways.

Travelling, in the greater part of Greece, seems to have been, anciently at least, as difficult as it is at the present day; and that circumstance gave rise to the laws of hospitality. This reciprocal hospitality became hereditary in families even of different nations; and the friendship which was thus contracted was not less binding than the ties of affinity, or of blood. Those between whom a regard had been cemented by the intercourse of hospitality were provided with some particular mark, which, being handed down from father to son, established a friendship and alliance between the families for several generations; and the engagement thus entered into could not be dispensed with, unless publicly disavowed in a judicial manner, nothing being considered so base as a violation of it. This mark was the ovμbónov ¿évikov of the Greeks, and the tessera hospitalis of the Latins. The ovμbónov was sometimes an astragal', probably made of lead, which being cut in halves, one half was kept by the host, and the other by the person whom he had entertained. On subsequent occasions they or their descendants, by whom the symbol was recognised, gave or received hospitality on comparing the two tallies. Mr. Dodwell found some half astragals of lead in Greece, which had probably served for this purpose.3

The astragal was a bone of the hinder feet of cloven-footed animals. Plin. Nat. Hist. b. xi. cc. 45, 46.

2 Jacobi Nicholai Loensis Miscell. Epiphill. p. 4. c. 19. Samuelis Petiti Miscel. b. 2. c. i. 3 Mr. Dodwell's Classical Tour in Greece, vol. i. p. 519. Plautus, in his play called Pænulus (act. 5. sc. 2.), represents Hanno, the Carthaginian, as retaining a symbol of hospitality reciprocally with Antidamas of Calydon; but Antidamas being dead, he addresses himself to his son Agorastocles, and says,

"Si ita est, tesseram

Conferre, si vis, hospitalem

Agorastocles answers:

eccam attuli.”

"Agedum hoc ostende, est par probe, nam habeo domum."

The ancient Romans divided a tessera lengthwise, into two equal parts, as signs of hospitality, upon each of which one of the parties wrote his name, and interchanged it with the other. The production of this, when they travelled, gave a mutual claim to the contracting parties and their descendants, for reception and kind treatment at each other's houses, as occasion offered. These tessera were sometimes of stone, shaped in the form of an oblong square; and as they were carefully and privately kept, so that no one might claim the privileges of them, besides the person for whom they were intended, this circumstance gives a beautiful and natural explanation of the following passage in Rev. ii. 17., where it is said, To him that overcometh, will I give a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. In this passage the venerable translators of our authorised version, by rendering it a white stone, seem to have confounded it with the calculus or small globular stone which was commonly used for balloting, and on some other occasions. The original words are pov XEUK, which do not specify either the matter or the form, but only the use of it. By this allusion, therefore, the promise made to the church at Pergamos seems to be to this purpose:-"To him that overcometh, will I give a pledge of my affection, which shall constitute him my friend, and entitle him to privileges and honours of which none else can know the value or extent." And to this sense the following words very well agree, which describe this stone or tessera as having in it a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it.'

To which Hanno:

"O mi hospes, salve multum, nam mihi tuus pater

Pater tuus ergo hospes Antidamas fuit ;

Hæc mihi hospitalis tessera cum illo fuit."

Agorastocles proceeds:

"Ergo hic apud me hospitium tibi præbebitur."

"If this be the case, here is the tally of hospitality, which I have brought; compare it if you please.-Show it me; it is indeed the tally to that which I have at home;" My dear host, you are heartily welcome; for your father Antidamas was my host; this was the token of hospitality between him and me; and you shall, therefore, be kindly received in my house." Ibid. P. 520.

Ward's Dissertations upon several passages of the Sacred Scriptures, pp. 229-232. London, 1759. 8vo. Dr. T. M. Harris's Dissertation on the Tessera Hospitalis of the Ancient Romans, annexed to his Discourses on the Principles, Tendency, and Design of Free-Masonry. Charlestown (Massachusetts), Anno Lucis 5801. This writer has also given several proofs of the prevalence of a similar practice among the ancient Christians, who carried the tessera with them in their travels as an introduction to the friendship and brotherly kindness of their fellow-Christians. Afterwards, heretics, to enjoy those privileges, counterfeited the tessara. The Christians then altered the inscription. This was frequently done till the Nicene Council gave their sanction to those marked with the initials of the words Πατήρ, Υιός, Αγιον Πνεῦμα ; which B. Hildebrand calls Tessera Canonica. The impostor Peregrinus, as we learn from Lucian (Op. tom. iii. p. 325. Amst. 1743), feigned himself a Christian, that he might not only be clothed and fed by the Christians, but also be assisted on his travels, and enriched by their generosity; but his artifice was detected and exposed. The procuring of a tessera (Dr. Harris remarks), as a mark of evangelisation, answered all the purposes, and saved all the trouble, of formal written certificates and introductory letters of recommendation. The danger of its being used by impostors, as in the case of Peregrinus, rendered it necessary to preserve the token with great care, and never to produce it but upon special occasions. Notwithstanding the simplicity of this method, it continued in use until the time of Burchardus, archbishop of Worms, who flourished A.D. 1100, and who mentions it in a visitation charge. (Harris's Sermons, &c. pp. 319, 320.)

CHAP. VII.

ON THE OCCUPATIONS, LITERATURE, STUDIES, AND SCIENCES OF THE

HEBREWS.

SECT. I.

RURAL AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE JEWS.

JUDEA was eminently an agricultural country; and all the Mosaic statutes were admirably calculated to encourage agriculture as the chief foundation of national prosperity, and also to preserve the Jews detached from the surrounding idolatrous nations.

I. After they had acquired possession of the promised land, the Jews applied themselves wholly to agriculture and the tending of cattle, following the example of their ancestors, the patriarchs, who (like the Arabs, Bedouins, Turcomans, and numerous tribes of eastern Asia) were generally husbandmen and shepherds, and whose chief riches consisted in cattle, slaves, and the fruits of the earth. Adam brought up his two sons to husbandry, Cain to the tilling of the ground, and Abel to the feeding of sheep. (Gen. iv. 2.) Jabal was a grazier of cattle, of whom it is said, that he was the father of such as dwell in tents (ver. 20.), that is, he travelled with his cattle from place to place, and for that end invented the use of tents, which he carried with him for shelter. After the Deluge, Noah resumed his agricultural labours, which had been interrupted by that catastrophe. (Gen. ix. 20.) The chief wealth of the patriarchs consisted in cattle. (Gen. xiii. 2., compared with Job i. 3.) Abraham and Lot must have had vast herds of cattle, when they were obliged to separate because the land could not contain them (Gen. xiii. 6.); and strifes between the different villagers and herdsmen of Syria still exist, as well as in the days of those patriarchs.' Jacob, also, must have had a greater number, since he could afford a present to his brother Esau of five hundred and eighty head of cattle. (Gen. xxxii. 13-17.) It was

Richardson's Travels along the Mediterranean, vol. ii. p. 196.

2 The following description of the removal of an Arab horde will afford the reader a lively idea of the primitive manners of the patriarchs:-"It was entertaining enough to see the horde of Arabs decamp, as nothing could be more regular. First went the sheep and goat-herds, each with their flocks in divisions, according as the chief of each family directed; then followed the camels and asses, loaded with the tents, furniture, and kitchen utensils; these were followed by the old men, women, boys, and girls, on foot. The children that cannot walk are carried on the backs of the young women, or the boys and girls; and the smallest of the lambs and kids are carried under the arms of the children. To each tent belong many dogs, among which are some greyhounds; some tents have from ten to fourteen dogs, and from twenty to thirty men, women, and children belonging to them. The procession is closed by the chief of the tribe, whom they called Emir and Father (emir means prince), mounted on the very best horse, and surrounded by the heads of each family, all on horses, with many servants on foot. Between each family is a division or space of one hundred yards, or more, when they migrate; and such great regularity is observed, that neither camels, asses, sheep, nor dogs, mix, but each keeps to the division to which it belongs without the least trouble. They had been here eight days, and were going four hours' journey to the north-west, to another spring of water. This tribe consisted of about eight hundred and fifty men, women, and children. Their flocks of sheep and goats were about five thousand, besides a great number of camels, horses,

their great flocks of cattle which made them in those primitive times put such a price upon wells. These were possessions of inestimable value in a country where it seldom rained, and where there were but few rivers or brooks, and, therefore, it is no wonder that we read of so many contests about them.

In succeeding ages, we find that the greatest and wealthiest men did not disdain to follow husbandry, however mean that occupation is now accounted.' Moses, the great lawgiver of the Israelites, was a shepherd. Shamgar was taken from the herd to be a judge in Israel, and Gideon from his threshing-floor (Judg. vi. 11.), as were Jair and Jephthah from the keeping of sheep. When Saul received the news of the danger to which the city of Jabesh-gilead was exposed, he was coming after the herd out of the field, notwithstanding he was a king. (1 Sam. xi. 5.) And king David, from feeding the ewes great with young, was brought to feed Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance (Psal. lxxviii. 71.); and it should seem, from 2 Sam. xiii. 23., that Absalom was a large sheep-owner. King Uzziah is said to be a lover of husbandry (2 Chron. xxvi. 10.); and some of the prophets were called from that employment to the prophetic dignity, as Elisha was from the plough (1 Kings xix. 19.), and Amos from being a herdsman. But the tending of the flocks was not confined to the men2: in the primitive ages, rich and noble women were accustomed to keep sheep, and to draw water, as well as those of inferior quality. Thus, Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel, Abraham's brother, carried a pitcher, and drew water (Gen. xxiv. 15. 19.), as the women of Palestine still generally do; Rachel, the daughter of Laban, kept her father's sheep (Gen. xxix. 9.); and Zipporah, with her six sisters, had the care of their father Jethro's flocks, who was a prince or (which in those times was an honour scarcely inferior) a priest of Midian. (Exod. ii. 16.) Repeated instances occur in Homer of the daughters of princes tending flocks, and performing other menial services.

II. Among the larger domestic animals kept by the Hebrews or Jews,

1. NEAT CATTLE claim first to be noticed, on account of their

and asses. Horses and greyhounds they breed and train up for sale: they neither kill nor sell their ewe-lambs. At set times a chapter in the Koran is read by the chief of each family, either in or near each tent, the whole family being gathered round, and very attentive." Parson's Travels from Aleppo to Bagdad, pp. 109, 110. London, 1808. 4to.

Honourable as the occupation of a shepherd was among the Hebrews, it was an abomination to the Egyptians (Gen. xlvi. 34.) at the time when Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.-From the fragments of the ancient historian Manetho, preserved in Josephus and Africanus, it appears that that country had been invaded by a colony of Nomades or Shepherds descended from Cush, who established themselves there, and had a succession of kings. After many wars between them and the Egyptians, in which some of their principal cities were burnt and great cruelties were committed, they were compelled to evacuate the country; but not till they had been in possession of it for a period of nine hundred years. This alone was sufficient to render shepherds odious to the Egyptians; but they were still more obnoxious, because they killed and ate those animals, particularly the sheep and the ox, which were accounted most sacred among them. See Bryant's Analysis of Ancient Mythology, vol. vi. pp. 193-211. 8vo, edit.

2 From Hector's address to his horses, it appears that his wife, Andromache, though a princess, did not think it beneath her dignity to feed those animals herself. Iliad viii,

185-189.

* See particularly Iliad, lib. vi. 59. 78.; Odyss. lib. vi. 57., xii. 131.

great utility. Though they are of small stature in the East, yet they attain to considerable strength. (Prov. xiv. 4.) The bulls of Bashan were celebrated for their strength. (Psal. xxii. 12.) The castration of bulls, or the males of the ox-tribe, as well as of other male animals, which was common among other nations, was prohibited to the Hebrews. (Lev. xxii. 24, 25.) Oxen were used both for draught and for tillage, as is still the case in the East. A bullock unaccustomed to the yoke is of no use: they therefore take the greatest precaution in making such purchases, and will never close a bargain until they have PROVED THEM in the field. This custom illustrates Luke xiv. 19. Oxen were also employed in treading out the corn, during which they were not to be muzzled (Deut. xxv. 4.); and were driven by means of ox-goads (Judg. iii. 31.), which if they resembled those used in more recent times in the East, must have been of considerable size. Calves, or the young of the ox-kind, are frequently mentioned in Scripture, because they were commonly used in sacrifices. The fatted calf (1 Sam. xxviii. 24.; Luke xv. 23.) was stall-fed, with a special reference to a particular festival or extraordinary sacrifice. Cows' milk was only used as a beverage, and was never converted into butter, for which last article olive-oil was commonly used.

2. So useful to the Hebrews were ASSES, that the coveting of them is prohibited in the decalogue, equally with oxen: in the East they attain to a considerable size and beauty. Princes and people of distinction did not think it beneath their dignity to ride on asses (Numb. xxii. 21.; Judg. i. 4., v. 10., x. 4. ; 2 Sam. xvi. 2.); when, therefore, Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on an ass, he was received like a prince or sovereign. (Matt. xxi. 1-9.) The Hebrews were forbidden to draw with an ox and an ass together (Deut. xxii. 10.), probably because one was a clean animal, and, consequently, edible, while the other was declared to be unclean, and, consequently, unfit for food. The habits and speed of wild asses, which anciently were nu

Roberts's Oriental Illustrations of Scripture, p. 564.

2 The intelligent traveller, Maundrell, in his journey from Jerusalem to Aleppo, relates, that when he was near Jerusalem, he came to a certain place, where (says he) "the country people were every where at plough in the fields, in order to sow cotton: it was observable, that in ploughing, they used goads of an extraordinary size; upon measuring of several, I found them to be about eight feet long, and, at the bigger end, six inches in circumference. They were armed at the lesser end with a sharp prickle, for driving of the oxen, and at the other end with a small spade, or paddle of iron, strong and massy, for cleansing the plough from the clay that encumbers it in working. May we not from hence conjecture, that it was with such a goad as one of these, that Shamgar made that prodigious slaughter related of him? I am confident that whoever should see one of these instruments, would judge it to be a weapon, not less fit, perhaps fitter, than a sword for such an execution: goads of this sort I saw always used hereabouts, and also in Syria; and the reason is, because the same single person both drives the oxen, and also holds and manages the plough; which makes it necessary to use such a goad as is above described, to avoid the incumbrance of two instruments." Maundrell's Travels, p. 110. In January, 1816, Mr. Buckingham observed similar goads in use, at Ras-el-Hin (or Ain), in the vicinity of the modern town of Sour, which stands on the site of ancient Tyre (Travels in Palestine, p. 57.); and the Rev. Mr. Hartley, in March, 1828, met with the same kind of goads in Greece. (Missionary Register, May, 1830, p. 223.) With such an instrument Lycurgus, according to Homer, completely defeated the Bacchantes. Iliad vi. 134, 135.