365 . Zeitschr. p. 452, note.
362.It is given by Landsberg in the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums 1862, no. 33, p. 459, a reference pointed out to me by a friend.
363.Zeitschr. p. 450 sq., Monatschr. pp. 31, 70.
364.As the notices in Josephus (B.J. ii. 8) relating to this point have been frequently misunderstood, it may be well once for all to explain his meaning. The grades of the Essene order are mentioned in two separate notices, apparently, though not really, discordant. (1) In § 10 he says that they are ‘divided into four sections according to the duration of their discipline’ (διῄρηνται κατὰ χρόνον τῆς ἀσκήσεως εἰς μοίρας τέσσαρας), adding that the older members are considered to be defiled by contact with the younger, i.e. each superior grade by contact with the inferior. So far his meaning is clear. (2) In § 8 he states that one who is anxious to become a member of the sect undergoes a year’s probation, submitting to discipline but ‘remaining outside.’ Then, ‘after he has given evidence of his perseverance (μετὰ τὴν τῆς καρτερίας ἐπίδειξιν), his character is tested for two years more; and, if found worthy, he is accordingly admitted into the society.’ A comparison with the other passage shows that these two years comprise the period spent in the second and third grades, each extending over a year. After passing through these three stages in three successive years, he enters upon the fourth and highest grade, thus becoming a perfect member.
It is stated by Dr Ginsburg (Essenes p. 12 sq., comp. Kitto’s Cyclopædia s.v. p. 828) that the Essenes passed through eight stages ‘from the beginning of the noviciate to the achievement of the highest spiritual state,’ this last stage qualifying them, like Elias, to be forerunners of the Messiah. But it is a pure hypothesis that the Talmudical notices thus combined have anything to do with the Essenes; and, as I shall have occasion to point out afterwards, there is no ground for ascribing to this sect any Messianic expectations whatever.
365.Zeitschr. p. 452, note.
366.The entrance into lower grade was described as ‘taking בנפים’ or ‘wings.’ The meaning of this expression has been the subject of much discussion; see e.g. Herzfeld II. p. 390 sq., Frankel Monatschr. p. 33 sq.
367.The contempt with which a chaber would look down upon the vulgar herd, the عam haarets, finds expression in the language of the Pharisees, Joh. vii. 49 ὁ ὄχλος οὗτος ὁ μὴ γινώσκων τὸν νόμον ἐπάρατοί εἰσιν. Again in Acts iv. 13, where the Apostles are described as ἰδιῶται, the expression is equivalent to عam haarets. See the passages quoted in Buxtorf, Lex. p. 1626.
368.All these particulars and others may be gathered from Bekhoroth 30 b, Mishna Demai ii. 2, 3, Jerus. Demai ii. 3, v. 1, Tosifta Demai 2, Aboth R. Nathan c. 41.
369.See Herzfeld II. p. 386.
370.Monatschr. p. 35.
371.Zeitschr. pp. 458, 461, Monatschr. pp. 32, 36.
372.It is added however in Midrash Qoheleth ix. 9 ‘Some say that they (the holy congregation) devoted the whole of the winter to studying the Scriptures and the summer to work.’
373.Monatschr. p. 32.
374.Ib. p. 70.
375.See Derenbourg p. 175.
376.Monatschr. p. 32.
377.Monatschr. pp. 32, 68.
378.Ib. p. 67.
380.Zeitschr. p. 455.
382.Beiträge II. p. 199. In this derivation he is followed by Graetz (III. p. 82, 468) and Derenbourg (p. 166).
383.Monatschr. p. 31.
384.‘The attempt to point out the Essenes in our patristic (i.e. rabbinical) literature,’ says Herzfeld truly (II. p. 397), ‘has led to a splendid hypothesis-hunt (einer statthchen Hypothesenjagd).’
385.Monatschr. p. 31.
386.Monatschr. p. 64.
387.B.J. ii. 8. 5 καθάπερ εἰς ἅγιόν τι τέμενος παραγίνονται τὸ δειπνητήριον: see also the passages quoted above p. 89, note 255.
389.Herzfeld (II. p. 403) is unable to reconcile any rejection of the Old Testament Scriptures with the reverence paid to Moses by the Essenes (B.J. ii. 8. 9, 10). The Christian Essenes however did combine both these incongruous tenets by the expedient which is explained in the text. Herzfeld himself suggests that allegorical interpretation may have been employed to justify this abstention from the temple sacrifices.
390.See Galatians, p. 310 sq.
391.Epiphanius (Hær. xviii. I, p. 38) again describes, as the account was handed down to him (ὡς ὁ εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐλθὼν περιέχει λόγος), the tenets of a Jewish sect which he calls the Nasareans, αὐτὴν δὲ οὐ παρεδέχετο τὴν πεντάτευχον, ἀλλὰ ὡμολόγει, μὲν τὸν Μωϋσέα, καὶ ὅτι ἐδέξατο νομοθεσίαν ἐπίστευεν, οὐ ταύτην δέ φησιν, ἀλλ’ ἑτέραν. ὅθεν τὰ μὲν πάντα φυλάττουσι τῶν Ἰουδαίωv Ἰουδαῖοι ὄντες, θυσίαν δὲ οὐκ ἔθυον οὔτε ἐμψύχων μετεῖχον, ἀλλὰ θέμιτον ἦν παρ’ αὐτοῖς τὸ κρεῶν μεταλαμβάνειν ἢ θυσιάζειν αὐτούς. ἔφασκον γὰρ πεπλάσθαι ταῦτα τὰ βιβλία καὶ μηδὲν τούτων ὑπὸ τῶν πατέρων γεγενῆσθαι. Here we have in combination all the features which we are seeking. The cradle of this sect is placed by him in Gilead and Bashan and ‘the regions beyond the Jordan.’ He uses similar language also (xxx. 18, p. 142) in describing the Ebionites, whom he places in much the same localities (naming Moab also), and whose Essene features are unmistakeable: οὔτε γὰρ δέχονται τὴν πεντάτευχον Μωϋσέως ὅλην ἀλλά τινα ῥήματα ἀποβάλλουσιν. ὅταν δὲ αὐτοῖς εἴπῃς περὶ ἐμψύχων βρώσεως κ.τ.λ. These parallels will speak for themselves.
392.Zeitschr. p. 458.
393.See Ginsburg Essenes p. 69 sq.
394.Berakhoth i. 4; see Derenbourg, p. 169 sq.
395.See above, p. 87, note 249.
397.Galatians p. 311 sq. See also below, p. 167.
399.Galatians p. 312, note 1. For another derivation see below, p. 167.
400.Celibacy however is not one of these: comp. Epiphan. Hær. xix. 1 (p. 40) ἀπεχθάνεται δὲ τῇ παρθενίᾳ, μισεῖ δὲ τὴν ἐγκράτειαν, ἀναγκάζει δὲ γάμον. In this respect they departed from the original principles of Essenism, alleging, as it would appear, a special revelation (ὡς δῆθεν ἀποκαλύψεως) in justification. In like manner marriage is commended in the Clementine Homilies.
401.The important place which the heavenly bodies held in the system of Philo, who regarded them as animated beings, may be seen from Gfrörer’s Philo I. p. 349 sq.
402.Keim I. p. 289.
403.See Wiesner Schol. zum Babyl. Talm. I. pp. 18, 20.
404.Monatschr. p. 37.
405.Justin Martyr more than once taunts the Jewish rabbis with their reckless encouragement of polygamy. See Dial. 134, p. 363 D, τοῖς ἀσυνέτοις καὶ τυφλοῖς διδασκάλοις ὑμῶν, ὁίτινες καὶ μέχρι νῦν καὶ τέσσαρας καὶ πέντε ἔχειν ὑμᾶς γυναῖκας ἕκαστον συγχωροῦσι· καὶ ἐὰν εὔμορφόν τις ἰδὼν ἐπιθυμήσῃ αὐτῆς κ.τ.λ., ib. 141, p. 371 A, B, ὁποῖον πράττουσιν οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ γένους ὑμῶν ἄνθρωποι, κατὰ πᾶσαν γῆν ἔνθα ἂν ἐπιδημήσωσιν ἢ προσπεμφθῶσιν ἀγόμενοι ὀνόματι γάμου γυναῖκας κ.τ.λ., with Otto’s note on the first passage.
406.See above, p. 91, note 261.
407.Dial. 85, p. 311 C, ἤδη μέντοι οἱ ἐξ ὑμῶν ἐπορκισταὶ τῇ τέχνῃ, ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ ἔθνη, χρώμενοι ἐξορκίζουσι καὶ θυμιάμασι καὶ καταδέσμοις χρῶνται.
408.Herzfeld, II. p. 392 sq.
410.Orient 1849, pp. 489, 537, 553.
411.B.J. i. 3. 5 παριόντα διὰ τοῦ ἱεροῦ. In the parallel narrative, Ant. xiii. II. 2, the expression is παριόντα τὸ ἱερόν, which does not imply so much; but the less precise notice must be interpreted by the more precise. Even then however it is not directly stated that Judas himself was within the temple area.
412.See above, pp. 89, 134 sq.
413.Ant. xv. 10. 4.
414.Zeller Philosophie der Griechen, Th. III. Abth. 2, p. 281.
415.Diog. Laert. viii. 17; see Zeller l.c. p. 282, note 5. The precept in question occurs among a number of insignificant details, and has no special prominence given to it. In the Life of Apollonius by Philostratus (e.g. vi. 10) considerable stress is laid on the worship of the sun (Zeller l.c. p. 137, note 6); but the syncretism of this late work detracts from its value as representing Pythagorean doctrine.
416.Zeller l.c. p. 68 (comp. I. p. 242). While disputing Zeller’s position, I have freely made use of his references. It is impossible not to admire the mastery of detail and clearness of exposition in this work, even when the conclusions seem questionable.
417.Athen. iv. p. 161, Diog. Laert. viii. 37. See the index to Meineke Fragm. Com. s. vv. πυθαγορικός, etc. The words commonly used by these satirists are πυθαγορίζειν, πυθαγοριστής, πυθαγορισμός. The persons so satirized were probably in many cases not more Pythagoreans than modern teetotallers are Rechabites.
418.Diog. Laert. viii. 24 sq.; see Zeller l.c. p. 74–78.
419.Cic. Tim. I ‘sic judico, post illos nobiles Pythagoreos quorum disciplina extincta est quodammodo, cum aliquot sæcula in Italia Siciliaque viguisset, hunc exstitisse qui illam renovaret.’
420.Sen. N.Q. vii. 32 ‘Pythagorica illa invidiosa turbæ schola præceptorem non invenit.’
421.N.H. v. 15. The passage is at which Josephus thinks it necessary to insert an account of the Essenes as already flourishing (Ant. xiii. 5. 9), is prior to the revival of the Neopythagorean school. How much earlier the Jewish sect arose, we are without data for determining.
423.Diog. Laert. viii. 42.
424.Vit. Apoll. i. 15 sq. At the same time Philostratus informs us that the conduct of his hero in this respect had been differently represented by others.
425.l.c. p. 288 sq.
426.l.c. p. 290 sq.
427.See the references in Zeller I. p. 218 sq.; comp. III. 2, p. 67.
428.Keim (Geschichte Jesu von Nazara I. p. 303) refers to Tac. Hist. iii. 24 ‘Undique clamor; et orientem solem (ita in Syria mos est) tertiani salutavere,’ as illustrating this Essene practice. The commentators on Tacitus quote a similar notice of the Parthians in Herodian iv. 15 ἅμα δὲ ἡλίῳ ἀνίσχοντι ἐφάνη Ἀρτάβανος σὺν μεγίστῳ πλήθει στρατοῦ· ἀσπασάμενοι δὲ τὸν ἤλιον, ὡς ἔθος αὐτοῖς, οἱ βάρβαροι κ.τ.λ.
429.See e.g. Vendidad Farg. xix; and the liturgical portions of the book are largely taken up with invocations of these intermediate beings. Some extracts are given in Davies’ Colossians p. 146 sq.
430.Hilgenfeld (Zeitschrift x. p. 99 sq.) finds coincidences even more special than these. He is answered by Zeller (III. 2. p. 276), but defends his position again (Zeitschrift xi. p. 347 sq.), though with no great success. Among other points of coincidence Hilgenfeld remarks on the axe (Jos. B.J. ii. 8. 7) which was given to the novices among the Essenes, and connects it with the ἀξινομαντεία (Plin. N.H. xxxvi. 19) of the magi. Zeller contents himself with replying that the use of the axe among the Essenes for purposes of divination is a pure conjecture, not resting on any known fact. He might have answered with much more effect that Josephus elsewhere (§ 9) defines it as a spade or shovel, and assigns to it a very different use. Hilgenfeld has damaged his cause by laying stress on these accidental resemblances. So far as regards minor coincidences, Zeller makes out as good a case for his Pythagoreans, as Hilgenfeld for his magians.
431.Those who allow any foreign Oriental element in Essenism most commonly ascribe it to Persia: e.g. among the more recent writers, Hilgenfeld (l.c.) and Lipsius Schenkel’s Bibel-Lexikon s.v. Essäer p. 189.
432.l.c. p. 275.
433.See Gibbon Decline and Fall c. viii, Milman History of Christianity II. p. 247 sq. The latter speaks of this restoration of Zoroastrianism, as ‘perhaps the only instance of the vigorous revival of a Pagan religion.’ It was far purer and less Pagan than the system which it superseded; and this may account for its renewed life.
434.See Müller Fragm. Hist. Græc. III. p. 53 sq. for this work of Hermippus περὶ Μάγων. He flourished about B.C. 200. See Max Müller Lectures on the Science of Language 1st ser. p. 86.
435.Strabo xv. 3. 15 (p. 733) Ἐν δὲ τῇ Καππαδοκίᾳ (πολὺ γὰρ ἐκεῖ τὸ τῶν Μάγων φῦλον, οἳ καὶ πύραιθοι καλοῦνται· πολλὰ δὲ καὶ τῶν Περσικῶν θεῶν ἱερά) κ.τ.λ.
436.At least in one instance, Asmodeus (Tob. iii. 17); see M. Müller Chips from a German Workshop I. p. 148 sq. For the different dates assigned to the book of Tobit see Dr Westcott’s article Tobit in Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible p. 1525.
437.Zeitschrift X. p. 103 sq.; comp. XI. p. 351. M. Renan also (Langues Sémitiques III. iv. 1, Vie de Jésus p. 98) suggests that Buddhist influences operated in Palestine.
438.X. p. 105 ‘was schon an sich, zumal in dieser Zeit, schwerlich Alexandria ad Caucasum, sondern nur Alexandrien in Aegypten bedeuten kann.’ Comp. XI. p. 351, where he repeats the same argument in reply to Zeller. This is a very natural inference from a western point of view; but, when we place ourselves in the position of a Buddhist writer to whom Bactria was Greece, the relative proportions of things are wholly changed.
439.Die Religion des Buddha I. p. 193.
440.Comp. e.g. Weber Die Verbindungen Indiens mit den Ländern im Westen p.675 in the Allgem. Monatschr. f. Wissensch. u. Literatur, Braunschweig 1853; Lassen Indische Alterthumskunde II. p. 236; Hardy Manual of Budhism p. 516.
441.For its geographical meaning in older Indian writers see Köppen l.c. Since then it has entirely departed from its original signification, and Yavana is now a common term used by the Hindoos to designate the Mohammedans. Thus the Greek name has come to be applied to a people which of all others is most unlike the Greeks. This change of meaning admirably illustrates the use of Ἑλλην among the Jews, which in like manner, from being the name of an alien nation, became the name of an alien religion, irrespective of nationality: see the note on Gal. ii. 3.
442.Mahawanso p. 171, Turnour’s translation.
443.How for instance, if any such establishment had ever existed at Alexandria, could Strabo have used the language which is quoted in the next note?
444.Consistently with this view, we may allow that single Indians would visit Alexandria from time to time for purposes of trade or for other reasons, and not more than this is required by the rhetorical passage in Dion Chrysost. Or. xxxii (p. 373) ὁρῶ γὰρ ἔγωγε οὐ μόνον Ἕλληνας παρ’ ὑμῖν ... ἀλλὰ καὶ Βακτρίους καὶ Σκύθας καὶ Πέρσας καὶ Ἰνδῶν τινάς. The qualifying τινας shows how very slight was the communication between India and Alexandria. The mission of Pantænus may have been suggested by the presence of such stray visitors. Jerome (Vir. Ill. 36) says that he went ‘rogatus ab illius gentis legatis.’ It must remain doubtful however, whether some other region than Hindostan, such as Æthiopia for instance, is not meant, when Pantænus is said to have gone to India: see Cave’s Lives of the Primitive Fathers p. 188 sq.
How very slight the communication was between India and the West in the early years of the Christian era, appears from this passage of Strabo XV. 1. 4 (p. 686); καὶ οἱ νῦν δὲ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου πλέοντες ἐμπορικοὶ τῷ Νείλῳ καὶ τῷ Ἀραβίῳ κόλπῳ μέχρι τῆς Ἰνδικῆς σπάνιοι μὲν καὶ περιπεπλεύκασι μέχρι τοῦ Γάγγου, καὶ οὗτοι δ’ ἰδιῶται καὶ οὐδὲν πρὸς ἱστορίαν τῶν τόπων χρῆσιμοι, after which he goes on to say that the only instance of Indian travellers in the West was the embassy sent to Augustus (see below p. 155), which came ἀφ’ ἑνὸς τόπου καὶ παρ’ ἑνὸς βασιλέως.
The communications between India and the West are investigated by two recent writers, Reinaud Relations Politiques et Commerciales de l’Empire Romain avec l’Asie Centrale, Paris 1863, and Priaulx The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana and the Indian Embassies to Rome, 1873. The latter work, which is very thorough and satisfactory, would have saved me much labour of independent investigation, if I had seen it in time.