words and foreign idioms,

In the progress of

time they debased it altogether, and, in a manner, converted it into another language.

I. 2. In this state, it is known by the appellation of Aramaan, from Aram, one of the sons of Sem. His descendants inhabited the Mediterranean region, between the Tigris and Euphrates, and extended north to Armenia, and south to Shinaar, Babylon and Chaldæa. To the East were the descendants of Ashur, another of the sons of Sem, called the Assyrians; their chief city stood upon the Tigris, and was called Ninive; beyond them were the people of Media. There is reason to suppose that the descendants of Aram never extended themselves beyond the Tigris. But they passed the Euphrates, west, and occupied the territory known to us by the name of Syria. Aram Zobah and some other places were denominated from them. In consequence of the circumstance above adverted to, the Aramæan language became, after the captivity, the general language of Palestine. It branched into two dialects, differing in pronunciation rather than in words, the Chaldee, or East Aramæan, and the Syriac, or West Aramaan. The East Aramæan was spoken at Jerusalem and Judæa; the West, in the Galilæa Gentium. The learned, however, still cultivated the study of the old Hebrew or South Chanaanitic, and it was used in the service of the synagogue. Thus it continued the language of literature and religion, but the

language of common discourse was the Aramaan. That, therefore, was the language of the Jews, at the time of the birth of Christ; it was spoken by him, in his familiar instructions and conversations; and, with some variation, it continued the language of Judæa, till the final dispersion of the Jews, after the destruction of Jerusalem.

I. 3. Notwithstanding the destruction of that city, a large portion of the Jews remained, or established themselves, in Judæa. By degrees they formed themselves into a regular system of government, or rather subordination, connected with the various bodies of Jews, dispersed throughout the world. They were divided into the Western and Eastern Jews. The Western inhabited Egypt, Judæa, Italy and other parts of the Roman empire; the Eastern were settled in Babylon, Chaldæa, and Persia. The head of the Western Jews was known by the name of Patriarch; the head of the Eastern Jews was called, Prince of the Captivity. The office of Patriarch was abolished by the imperial laws, about the year 429: from which time, the Western Jews were solely under the rule of the chiefs of their synagogues, whom they called Primates. The princes of the captivity had a longer and more splendid sway. They resided at Babylon or Bagdad, and exercised their authority over all the Jews who were established there, or in the adjacent country, or in Assyria, Chaldæa or Parthia. They subsisted as late as the twelfth century.

In the midst of their depression and calamities, the Jews were attentive to their religion and language. With the permission of the Romans, they established academies; the most famous of them were those of Jabné and Tiberias.

About the reign of Antoninus Pius, Rabbi Jehuda Hakkadosh published a collection of Jewish traditions, called the Mishna, the style of which seems to shew, that their attempts to restore their language had not been unsuccessful. Surenhusius published the original, with a Latin version, and the commentaries of Maimonides and Bartenora, in six volumes folio, at Amsterdam, 1698-1703. It has been translated into German by Rabe; his translation was published at Onolzbach, in 17601763, in six volumes quarto.

As a supplement to this, the first Gemara was written, for the use of the Jews of Judæa, whence it is called the Gemara of Jerusalem. The style of it is so abrupt and barbarous, that the most profound Hebraists almost confess their inability to understand it. After the death of Antoninus Pius, a fresh persecution broke out against those Jews, and they were expelled from their academies within the Roman empire. The chief part of them fled to Babylon and the neighbouring countries ; and there, about the fifth century, published what is called the Second or Babylonish Gemara, in which there is less of barbarism and obscurity, than in the former. A translation of it was begun in

Germany by Rabe. The Mishna and Gemara form what is called the Talmud, and the idiom of this collection is called the Talmudical. From there being two Gemaras, there are two Talmuds, the Jerusalem and Babylonish: the former consists of the Mishna and Jerusalem Gemara; the latter, of the Mishna and Babylonish Gemara. The former is preferred by the Christians, as containing fewer fables and trifles; the latter is preferred by the Jews, as descending most into particulars. When they mention the Talmud generally, they understand by it, the Babylonish Talmud.

The Talmudical language was used by many of their writers. About the year 1038 the Jews were expelled from Babylon. Some of the most learned of them passed into Africa, and thence into Spain. Great bodies of them settled in that kingdom. They assisted the Saracens in their conquest of it. Upon that event, an intimate connection took place between the disciples of Moses and the disciples of Mahomet. It was cemented by their common hatred of the Christians, and subsisted till their common expulsion. This is one of the most brilliant epochas of Jewish literature, from the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. Even in the darkest ages of their history, they cultivated their language with assiduity, and were never without skilful grammarians, or subtle interpreters of Holy Writ. But, speaking generally, it was only during their union with the Saracens in Spain, and in the flourishing

ages of the Caliphs of Bagdad, that they ventured into general literature, or used, in their writings, a foreign, and consequently in their conceptions, a profane language.

In the literature of the Jews, the Targums fill a considerable space. These are paraphrases, which, at different times, and by different hands, have been made, in the Chaldee language, of all the Hebrew parts of the Old Testament. They have various degrees of merit. What is called the Targum of Onkelos is confined to the Pentateuch, and is far better executed than any of the others. There are strong grounds for supposing, that all the Targums are subsequent to the Version of the Seventy.

II.

THE only instance, in which, before the birth of Christ, the Jews appear to have used a profane language, was in THE TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE

MADE BY THE SEVENTY.

II. 1. With respect to the Style: It has been observed, that the policy of the Romans to extend, with the progress of their arms, the use of the Latin language, was attended with greater success in their western, than in their eastern conquests; so that, while the language of Rome was readily adopted in Africa, Spain, Gaul, and Pannonia, the Greeks preserved their language; and it continued to be spoken in their various colonies, from the Hadriatic