JEWISH CIVILISATION-IN THE TIME OF CHRIST.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1653, 29 October 1887, Page 4

JEWISH CIVILISATION-IN THE TIME OF CHRIST.

These Jerusalemites—townspeople, as they called themselves—were so polished, so witty, so pleasant. There was a tact in their social intercourse, and a considerateness and delicacy in their public arrangements and provisions, nowhere else to be found. Their very language whs different. There was a Jerusalem dialect —quicker, shorter, lighter; and their hospitality, especially at festive seasons, was unlimited. Ko one considered his house his own, and no stranger or pilgrim but found reception. And how much there was to be seen and heard in those luxuriously furnished houses, and at those sumptuous entertainments. In the women’s apartments friends from the country could see every novelty in dress, adornment, and jewellery, and have the benefit of examining themselves in looking-ghisses, To bo sure,' as being womanish vanity, tkeir use was interdicted to men, except it were to the members of the family of the President of Sanhedrin, on account of their intercourse with those in authority, just is, for the same reason, they were allowed to learn Greek. In these streets and lanes everything might be purchased ; the productions of Palestine, or importations from foreign lands—nay, the rarest articles from the remotest parts. Exquisitively shaped, curiously designed and jewelled cups, rings, and other workmanship of precious metals; glass, silks, fine linen, wollen stuffs, purple, and costly hangings; essences, ointments, and perfumes as precious as gold ; articles of food and drink from foreign .lands —in short, what India, Persia, Arabia, Media, Egypt, Italy, Greece, and even the far-off lands of the Gentiles yielded, might be had in these bazaars. Ancient Jewish writings enable us to identify no fewer than 118 different articles of import from foreign lands, covering more than even modern luxury has devised. Articles ■of luxury, especially from abroad, fetched indeed enormous prices; and a lady might spend £36 on a cloak ; silk would be paid for by its weight in gold; purple wool at £3 5s the pound, or, if double-dyed, at almost ten times that amount, yrhile the price of the best balsam and lard was most exorbitant. On the other hand, the cost of common Hying was very low. In the bazaars, you might get a complete suit for your slave for eighteen or nineteen shillings, and a ! tolerable outfit for yourself from £3 to £f). For the same sura you might purchase an ass, an ox, or a enw, and, for little more, a horss. A calf might be had for fifteen or sixteen shillings, while a lamb might be had as low as twopence. Corn of all kinds, fruit, wipe, fjnd 'oil, cost very little. Meat whs about « penny a pppnd.—Dr, Edersheira : “Life and of Jesup the Messiah/’