to 135. Akiba set his face
against frivolity, and pronounced silence a fence about wisdom. But his
disposition was resolute rather than severe. Of him the most romantic of
love stories is told. He was a herdsman, and fell in love with his
master's daughter, who endured poverty as his devoted wife, and was
glorified in her husband's fame. But whatever contrast there may have
been in the two characters, Akiba, like Jochanan, believed that a
literature was worthless unless it expressed itself in the life of the
scholar. He and his school held in low esteem the man who, though
learned, led an evil life, but they took as their ideal the man whose
moral excellence was more conspicuous than his learning. As R. Eleazar,
the son of Azariah, said: "He whose knowledge is in excess of his good
deeds is like a tree whose branches are many and its roots scanty; the
wind comes, uproots, and overturns it. But he whose good deeds are more
than his knowledge is like a tree with few branches but many roots, so
that if all the winds in the world come and blow upon it, it remains
firm in its place." Man, according to Akiba, is master of his own
destiny; he needs God's grace to triumph over evil, yet the triumph
depends on his own efforts: "Everything is seen, yet freedom of choice
is given; the world is judged by grace, yet all is according to the
work." The Torah, the literature of Israel, was to Akiba "a desirable
instrument," a means to life.

Among the distinctions of Akiba's school must be named the first literal
translation of the Bible into Greek. This work was done towards the
close of the second century by Aquila, a proselyte, who was inspired by
Akiba's teaching. Aquila's version was inferior to the Alexandrian Greek
version, called the Septuagint, in graces of style, but was superior in
accuracy. Aquila followed the Hebrew text word by word. This translator
is identical with Onkelos, to whom in later centuries the Aramaic
translation (_Targum_ Onkelos) of the Pentateuch was ascribed. Aramaic
versions of the Bible were made at a very early period, and the Targum
Onkelos may contain ancient elements, but in its present form it is not
earlier than the fifth century.

Meir, whom we take as representative of the third generation of Tannaim,
was filled with the widest sympathies. In his conception of truth,
everything that men can know belonged to the Torah. Not that the Torah
superseded or absorbed all other knowledge, but that the T