now. At all events,
Ashi, and after him Rabina, performed the great work of systematizing
the Rabbinical literature at a turning-point in the world's history. The
Mishnah had been begun at a moment when the Roman empire was at its
greatest vigor and glory; the Talmud was completed at the time when the
Roman empire was in its decay. That the Jews were saved from similar
disintegration, was due very largely to the Talmud. The Talmud is thus
one of the great books of the world. Despite its faults, its excessive
casuistry, its lack of style and form, its stupendous mass of detailed
laws and restrictions, it is nevertheless a great book in and for
itself. It is impossible to consider it further here in its religious
aspects. But something must be said in the next chapter of that side of
the Rabbinical literature known as the _Midrash_.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

THE TALMUD.

Essays by E. Deutsch and A. Darmesteter (Jewish Publication Society
of America).

Graetz.--II, 18-22 (character of the Talmud, end of ch. 22).

Karpeles.--_Jewish Literature and other Essays_, p. 52.

Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, p. 20.

Schiller-Szinessy.--_Encycl. Brit._, Vol. XXIII, p. 35.

M. Mielziner.--_Introduction to the Talmud_ (Cincinnati, 1894).

S. Schechter.--_Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology_, _J.Q.R._, VI,
p. 405, etc.

---- _Studies in Judaism_ (Jewish Publication Society of America,
1896), pp. 155, 182, 213, 233 [189, 222, 259, 283].

B. Spiers.--_School System of the Talmud_ (London, 1898)
(with appendix on Baba Kama); the _Threefold Cord_ (1893)
on _Sanhedrin, Baba Metsia_, and _Baba Bathra_.

M. Jastrow.--_History and Future of the Text of the Talmud
(Publications of the Gratz College_, Philadelphia, 1897, Vol. I).

P.B. Benny.--_Criminal Code of the Jews according to the Talmud_
(London, 1880).

S. Mendelsohn.--_The Criminal Jurisprudence of the Ancient Hebrews_
(Baltimore, 1891).

D. Castelli.--_Future Life in Rabbinical Literature_, _J.Q.R._,
I, p. 314.

M. Guedemann.--_Spirit and Letter in Judaism and Christianity_,
_ibid._, IV, p. 345.

I. Harris.--_Rise and Development of the Massorah_,
_ibid._, I, pp. 128, etc.

H. Polano.--_The Talmud_ (Philadelphia, 1876).

I. Myers.--_Gems from the Talmud_ (London, 1894).

D.W. Amram.--_The Jewish Law of Divorce according to Bible and
Talmud_ (Philadelphia, 1896).

CHAPTER IV

THE MIDRASH AND ITS POETRY

Mechilta, Sifra, Sifr