ret the Jews continued to ornament and enlarge it, expend-cubits high, in order to enlarge the area on the top of the
ng the sacred treasure in annexing additional buildings to it; mountain, and make it equal to the plan of his intended
so that they might with great propriety assert that their tem- building; and as this terrace was the only work of Solomon's
ple had been forty-and-six years in building.!
that remained in the second temple, the piazza which stood
Before we proceed to describe this venerable edifice, it upon it retained the name of that prince. Here it was that
may be proper to remark, that by the temple is to be under- our Lord was walking at the feast of dedication (John x.
stood not only the fabric or house itself, which by way of 23.), and the lame man, when healed by Peter and John,
eminence is called The Temple, viz. the holy of holies, the glorified God before all the people. (Acts iii. 11.) This su
sanctuary, and the several courts both of the priests and Is-perb portico is termed the ROYAL PORTICO by Josephus, who
elites; but also all the numerous chambers and rooms represents it as the noblest work beneath the sun, being ele-
which this prodigious edifice comprehended, and each of vated to such a prodigious height that no one could look
which had its respective degree of holiness, increasing in down from its flat roof to the valley below without being
proportion to its contiguity to the holy of holies. This re- seized with dizziness, the sight not reaching to such an im-
mark it will be necessary to bear in mind, lest the reader of measurable depth. The south-east corner of the roof of this
the Scriptures should be led to suppose that whatever is portico, where the height was greatest, is supposed to have
there said to be transacted in the temple was actually done been the Tv, pinnacle, or extreme angle, whence Satan
in the interior of that sacred edifice. To this infinite num-tempted our Saviour to precipitate himself. (Matt. iv. 5.
er of apartments into which the temple was disposed our Luke iv. 9.) This also was the spot where it was predicted
Lord refers (John xiv. 2.); and, by a very striking and mag- that the abomination of desolation, or the Roman ensigns,
nificent simile borrowed from them, he represents those nu- should stand. (Dan. ix. 27. Matt. xxiv. 15.) Solomon's por-
merons seats and mansions of heavenly bliss which his tico was situated in the eastern front of the temple, opposite
Father's house contained, and which were prepared for the to the Mount of Olives, where our Lord is said to have sat
everlasting abode of the righteous. The imagery is singu- when his disciples came to show him the grandeur of its
larly beautiful and happy, when considered as an allusion to various buildings, of which, grand as they were, he said, the
the temple, which our Lord not unfrequently called his time was approaching when one stone should not be left upon
another. (Matt. xxiv. 1-3.) This outermost court being
assigned to the Gentile proselytes, the Jews, who did not wor-
ship in it themselves, conceived that it might be lawfully
put to profane uses: for here we find that the buyers and
sellers of animals for sacrifices, and also the money-changers,
had stationed themselves; until Jesus Christ, awing them
into submission by the grandeur and dignity of his person
and behaviour, expelled them, telling them that it was the
house of prayer for all nations, and that it had a relative
sanctity, and was not to be profaned. It is not improbable,
that the captains of the temple, who were officers that had
the care and charge of it, let out this court for profit and ad-
vantage; and that the sellers, to compensate themselves for
what they paid for their tables and seats, made an unjust
and exorbitant gain; and that this circumstance occasioned
its being called a den of thieves. (Matt. xxi. 12, 13. Mark
xi. 15-17. Luke xix. 45, 46.)

Father's house.

The second temple, originally built by Zerubbabel, after the captivity, and repaired by Herod, differed in several respects from that erected by Solomon, although they agreed

En others.

The temple erected by Solomon was more splendid and magnificent than the second temple, which was deficient in ive remarkable things that constituted the chief glory of the irst:-these were the ark and mercy-seat, the shechinah or manifestation of the divine Presence in the holy of holies, the sacred fire on the altar, which had been first kindled rom heaven, the urim and thummim, and the spirit of prophecy. But the second temple surpassed the first in ory, being honoured by the frequent presence of our divine Saviour, agreeably to the prediction of Haggai. (ii. 9.) Both, however, were erected upon the same site, a very hard rock ncompassed by a very frightful precipice; and the foundaon was laid with incredible expense and labour. The suerstructure was not inferior to this great work; the height f the temple wall, especially on the south side, was stupenlous; in the low est places it was three hundred cubits or four ndred and fifty feet, and in some places even greater. This nost magnificent pile was constructed with hard white stones of prodigions magnitude.2

mall

part

The temple itself, strictly so called (which comprised the rtico, the sanctuary, and the holy of holies), formed only a of the sacred edifice on Mount Moriah; being Surrounded by spacious courts, making a square of half a ale in circumference. It was entered through nine magnient gates; one of which, called the Beautiful Gate in Acts . 2., was more splendid and costly than all the rest: it as composed of Corinthian brass, the most precious metal

n ancient times.

1. The first or outer court, which encompassed the holy use and the other courts, was named the COURT OF THE ENTILES; because the latter were allowed to enter into it, at were prohibited from advancing further: it was surunded by a range of porticoes or cloisters, above which were galleries or apartments supported by pillars of white ble, each consisting of a single piece, and five-and-twenty bits in height. One of these was called SOLOMON'S PozCH or Piazza, because it stood on a vast terrace, which had originally raised from a valley beneath, four hundred

2. Within the court of the Gentiles stood the COURT OF THE ISRAELITES divided into two parts or courts, the outer one being appropriated to the women, and the inner one to the men. The Court of the Women was separated from that of the Gentiles by a low stone wall or partition, of elegant construction, on which stood pillars at equal distances, with inscriptions in Greek and Latín, importing that no alien should enter into the holy place To this wall St. Paul most evidently alludes in Eph. ii. 13, 14. But now in Christ Jesus, ye, who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ: for he is our peace, who hath made both one (united both Jews and Gentiles into one church), and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished the law of ordinances by which, as by the wall of separation, both Jews and Gentiles were not only kept asunder, but also at variance. In this court was the treasury, over-against which Christ sat, and beheld how the people threw their voluntary offerings into it for furnishing the victims and other things necessary for the sacrifices. (Mark xii. 41. John viii. 20.)

From the court of the women, which was on higher
ground than that of the Gentiles, there was an ascent of fif-
teen steps into the Inner or Men's Court: and so called be-
cause it was appropriated to the worship of the male Israel-
ites. In these two courts, collectively termed the Court of
the Israelites, were the people praying, each apart by himself
for the pardon of his sins, while Zechariah was offering in-
cense within the sanctuary. (Luke i. 10.)

Jon ii. 30. There is, therefore, no real contradiction between the
writer and Josephus. The words of the evangelist are, "Forty-and-
3. Within the court of the Israelites was that of the
Tyers was this temple in building." This, as Calmet well observes, is PRIESTS, which was separated from it by a low wall, one
saying that Hero had employed forty-six years in erecting it. Jose-
acquaints us that Herod began to rebuild the temple, yet so as not to cubit in height. This enclosure surrounded the altar of
ed a new edifice, in the eighteenth year of his reign (Antiq. lib. burnt-offerings, and to it the people brought their oblations
), computing from his being declared king by the Romans, or in and sacrifices: but the priests alone were permitted to enter
Reenth year (Bell. Jud. lib. i. c. 16.), reckoning from the death of An: it. From this court twelve steps ascended to the TEMPLE
He finished it for use in about nine years (Ant. xv. 14.); but it
d increasing in splendour and magnificence through the pious do-
of the people (Bell. Jud. v. 14.) to the time of Nero, when it was
Heted, and 15,000 workmen were dismissed from that service, during
curatorship of Albinns. From the eighteenth of Herod, who reigned
ven years, to the birth of Christ, more than a year before the
a of that prince, was above sixteen years, added to which, the age of
now thirty, gives forty-six complete years. Calmet's Cominent. in

Antiq. Jud. lib. xv. c. 11. § 3.

Of the same kind with these porticoes, cloisters, or piazzas, were doubtless the five porticoes which surrounded the pool of Bethesda. (John v. 2.) The pool was probably a pentagon, and the piazzas round it were designed to shelter from the weather the multitude of diseased persons who lay waiting for a cure by the miraculous virtue of those waters. Jennings's Jewish Antiq. p. 267.

Bp. Pearce's Commentary, vol. i. on Matt. xxi. 13.

and the following engraving exhibits the TABLE OF SHEW-instructions, happening to say, Destroy this temple, and in BREAD, with a cup upon it, and with two of the sacred trumpets, which were used to proclaim the year of Jubilee, as they were also carried in the same triumph. They are copied from the plates in Reland's Treatise on the Spoils of the Temple of Jerusalem, the drawings for which were made at Rome, upwards of a century since, when the triumphal arch of Titus was in a much better state of preservation than it now is.

Hadr. Relandus de Spoliis Templi in Arcu Titiano Roma conspicuis, 1-6. Trajecti ad Rhenum, 1775. 8vo.

In the early ages of the world, the devotion of mankind | these high places. No sooner had Rehoboam the son of seems to have delighted greatly in groves, woods, and moun- Solomon, after the revolt of the ten tribes from him, strengthtains, not only because these retired places were naturally ened himself in his kingdom, but we read that Judah did evi fitted for contemplation, but probably also because they kin- in the sight of the Lord, and built them high places, and images, dled a certain sacred dread in the mind of the worshipper. and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. It is certain that nothing was more ancient in the East, than (1 Kings xiv. 22, 23.) altars surrounded by groves and trees, which made the place. Of the exemplary sovereigns, Asa and Jehoshaphat, invery shady and delightful in those hot countries. The idol- deed, it is recorded that they took away the high places and aters in the first ages of the world, who generally worshipped groves (2 Chron. xiv. 3. xv. 16. xvii. 6.); but Jehoshaphat's the sun, appear to have thought it improper to straiten and son and successor, Jehoram, is said to have made high places confine the supposed infinity of this imaginary deity within in the mountains of Judah. (2 Chron. xxi. 11.) And though walls, and therefore they generally made choice of hills and Joash, one of his sons, set out well, yet in the latter part of mountains, as the most convenient places for their idolatry; his life he was perverted by his idolatrous courtiers, who and when in later times they had brought in the use of tem- served groves and idols, to whom it appears that he gave a ples, yet for a long time they kept them open-roofed. Nay, permission for that purpose; for, after making their obeisance, the patriarchs themselves, who worshipped the true God, we are told, that he hearkened to them, and then they left the generally built their altars near to some adjacent grove of house of God. (2 Chron. xxiv. 17, 18.) Nor was the reign trees, which, if nature denied, were usually planted by the of Amaziah the son of Joash any better, for still the people religious in those days. When Abraham dwelt at Beershe-sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places (2 Kings xiv. 4.); ba, in the plains of Mamre, it is said, He planted a grove and though Uzziah his son is said to have done that which there, and called upon the name of the Lord the everlasting God was right in the sight of God, yet this exception appears (Gen. xxi. 33.), and doubtless that was the place to which against him, that the high places were not removed, but the the patriarch and his family resorted for public worship.' people still sacrificed there (2 Kings xv. 3, 4.); the same obser But at length these hills and groves of the heathen idola- vation is made of Jotham and Ahaz. (2 Chron. xxviii. 4.) ters, as they were more retired and shady, became so much But Hezekiah, who succeeded him, was a prince of extrathe fitter for the exercise of their unholy rites, and for the ordinary piety: he removed the high places, and brake the commission of the obscene and horrid practices that were images, and cut down the groves (2 Kings xviii. 4.), which his usually perpetrated there. (See 1 Kings xv. 12. 2 Kings son Manasseh again built up. (2 Kings xxi. 2.) At length xxiii. 7. In many passages of Scripture it is recorded of good king Josiah, a prince very zealous for the true religion, the Israelites (who in this respect imitated the heathens) utterly cleared the land from the high places and groves, and that they secretly did the things which were not right, that purged it from idolatry: but as the four succeeding reigns they set up images and groves in every high hill, and under before the Babylonian captivity were very wicked, we may every green tree, and there burnt incense in all the high places, presume that the high places were again revived, though and wrought wickedness to provoke the Lord, as did the heathen. there is no mention of them after the reign of Josiah.2 (2 Kings xvii. 9-13.) On this account, therefore, God expressly commanded the Israelites utterly to destroy all the places wherein the nations of Canaan, whose land they should possess, served their gods upon the high mountains and upon the hills and to pay their devotions and bring their oblations to that place only which God should choose. (Deut. xii. 2-15.) Nay, to prevent every approach to the idolatrous customs of the heathens, they were forbidden to plant any trees near the altar of the Lord. (Deut. xvi. 21.) Hence it is clear, that after God should fix upon a place for his public worship, it was entirely unlawful to offer sacrifices upon high places, or any where else but in the place God did choose: so that after the building of the temple, the prohibition of places and groves (so far at least as concerned the sacrificing in them) unquestionably took place. And it was for their disobedience to this command, by their sacrificing upon high places and in groves, even after the temple was erected (2 Kings xv. 35.), and for not destroying the high places of the heathens, where their idol gods were worshipped, which by that command and in many other places of Scripture (Num. xxxiii. 52.), they were expressly appointed to do;-that the prophets with so much holy zeal reproached the Israelites. We have, indeed, several instances in Scripture besides that of Abraham, where the prophets and other good men are said to have made use of these high places for sacrificing, as well as other less solemn acts of devotion, and which are not condemned. Thus, Samuel, upon the uncertain abode of the ark, fitted up a place of devotion for himself and his family in a high place, and built an altar there, and sacrificed upon it. (1 Sam. ix. 12. 19. 25.) Gideon also built an altar and offered a sacrifice to God upon the top of a rock (Judg. vi. 25, 26.); and the tabernacle itself was removed to the high place that was at Gibeon. (1 Chron. xvi. 39. and xxi. 29.) But all this was before the temple was erected, which was the first fixed place that God appointed for his public worship; after which other places for sacrificing became unlawful. That the Israelites, both kings and people, offered sacrifices upon these high places even after the temple was built, will evidently appear by noticing a few passages in their history; for (not to mention Jeroboam and his successors in the kingdom of Israel, whose professed purpose was to innovate every Josephus has preserved the decree of the city of Halicarnassus, perthing in matters of religion, and who had peculiar priestsitting the Jews to erect oratories, part of which is in the following terms: ordain, that the Jews who are willing, both men and women, do ob whom they termed prophets of the groves, 1 Kings xviii. 19.) serve the Sabbaths and perform sacred rites according to the Jewish law, it is clear that most of the kings of Judah,-even such of and build proscucha by the sea-side, according to the custom of their coun them who were otherwise zealous for the observance of the ry; and if any man, whether magistrate or private person, give them suy law, are expressly recorded as blameable on this head, and xiv. c. 10. § 23. hinderance or disturbance, he shall pay a fine to the city." Ant. Jud. lib. but few have the commendation given them of destroying Philo de Legatione ad Caium, p. 1011. Josephus de Vita sua, $54. Ju 1 Many ancient nations used to erect altars and offer sacrifices to their Institutio Interpretis Novi Testamenti, pp. 363, 364. edit. 4to. 1792. Lardvenal, Set, iii. 14. Grotius, Whitby, and Doddridge on Luke vi. 12. Ernesti gods upon high places and mountains, See the examples adduced in Burnor's Credibility, booki e 3.3 der's Oriental Literature, vol. i p. 25. Dr Harwood's Introduction to the New Testament, vol. ii pp. 171- 150.

II. From the preceding facts and remarks, however, we are not to conclude, that the prohibition relating to high places and groves, which extended chiefly to the more solemn acts of sacrificing there, did on any account extend to the prohibiting of other acts of devotion, particularly prayer, in any other place besides the temple, the high places and groves of the heathen (which were ordered to be razed) only excepted. For we learn from the Sacred Writings, that prayers are always acceptable to God in every place, when performed with that true and sincere devotion of heart, which alone gives life and vigour to our religious addresses. And therefore it was that in many places of Judæa, both before and after the Babylonian captivity, we find mention made in the Jewish and other histories of places built purposely for prayer, and resorted to only for that end, called PROSEUCHÆ OF ORATORIES.

These places of worship were very common in Judæa (and it should seem in retired mountainous or elevated places) in the time of Christ; they were also numerous at Alexandria, which was at that time a large and flourishing commercial city, inhabited by vast numbers of Jews: and it appears that in heathen countries they were erected in sequestered retreats, commonly on the banks of rivers, or on the sea shore. The proseucha or oratory at Philippi, where the Lord opened the heart of Lydia, that she attended unto the things which were spoken by Paul, was by a river side. (Acts xvi. 13, 14, 15.)13

It is a question with some learned men, whether these proseucha were the same as the synagogues (of which an account will be found in the following section), or distinct edifices from the latter. Both Josephus and Philo, to whom we may add Juvenal, appear to have considered them as synonymous; and with them agree Gro ius, Ernesti, Drs. Whitby, Doddridge, and Lardner; but Calmet, Drs. Prideaux and Hammond, and others, have distinguished between these two sorts of buildings, and have shown that though they were nearly the same, and were sometimes confounded by Philo and Josephus, yet that there was a real difference between them; the synagogues being in cities, while the proseucha were without the walls, in sequestered spots, and liticks, pp. 90–99. 2 Home's Hist. of the Jews, vol. ii. pp. 161-166. Croxall's Scripture Po

particularly in heathen countries) were usually erected on e banks of rivers, or on the sea-shore (Acts xvi. 13.), ithout any covering but galleries or the shade of trees. r. Prideaux thinks the proseuche were of greater antiquity han the synagogues, and were formed by the Jews in open ourts, in order that those persons who dwelt at a distance om Jerusalem might offer up their private prayers in them, s they were accustomed to do in the courts of the temple or f the tabernacle. In the synagogues, he further observes, he prayers were offered up in public forms, while the proeuche were appropriated to private devotions: and from the ratory, where our Saviour spent a whole night in prayer, eing erected on a mountain (Luke vi. 12.), it is highly proable that these proseucha were the same as the high places,

o often mentioned in the Old Testament.1

SECTION IV.

ON THE SYNAGOGUES.

Istrand

3..0.

k

quent, that they were to be found in almost every place in Judæa: but the Jews were not permitted to build one in a town, unless there were ten persons of leisure in it. Not fewer than four hundred and eighty synagogues are said to have been erected in Jerusalem, previously to its capture and destruction by the Romans. In the evangelical history we find, that wherever the Jews resided, they had one or more synagogues, constructed after those at Jerusalem: hence we find, in Acts vi. 9. synagogues belonging to the Alexandrians, the Asiatics, the Cilicians, the Libertines, and the Cyrenians, which were erected for such Jewish inhabitants of those countries or cities, as should happen to be at Jerusalem. With regard to the synagogue of the LIBERTINES, a considerable difference of opinion exists among the learned,

whether these Libertines were the children of freed men (Italian Jews or proselytes), or African Jews from the city or country called Libertus, or Libertina, near Carthage. The former opinion is supported by Grotius and Vitringa; the latter (which was first hinted by Oecumenius, a commentator in the close of the tenth century), by Professor Gerdes, Wetstein, Bishop Pearce, and Schleusner.

It is well known that the ancient Romans made a distinction between the Liberti and the Libertini. The Libertus was one who had been a slave, and obtained his freedom;4 the Libertinus was the son of a Libertus. But this distinction in after-ages was not strictly observed; and Libertinus also came to be used for one not born but made free, in opposition to Ingenuus or one born free. Whether the Libertini, mentioned in this passage of the Acts, were Gentiles, who had become proselytes to Judaism, or native Jews, who having been made slaves to the Romans were afterwards set at liberty, and in remembrance of their captivity called themselves Libertini, and formed a synagogue by themselves, is differently conjectured by the learned. It is probable, that the Jews of Cyrene, Alexandria, &c. erected synagogues at Jerusalem at their own charge, for the use of their brethren who came from those countries, as the Danes, Swedes, &c. built churches for the use of their own countrymen in London; and that the Italian Jews did the same; and because the greatest number of them were Libertini, their synagogue was therefore called the synagogue of the Libertines.

Form of a SYNAGOGUE ROLL of the Pentateuch. In support of the second opinion above noticed, viz. that Nature and origin of synagogues.-The synagogue of the the Libertines derived their name from Libertus or Libertina, libertines explained.-II. Form of the synagogues.-III. The a city in Africa, it is urged that Suidas in his Lexicon, on officers or ministers.-IV. The service performed in the syna- the word As, says, that it was ou vous, a national apgogues.-V. Ecclesiastical power of the synagogues.-VI. pellative; and that the Glossa interlinearis, of which Nicholas The Shemoneh Esreh, or Nineteen Prayers used in the syna-de Lyra made great use in his notes, has, over the word Ligogue service.

I. THE SYNAGOGUES were buildings in which the Jews sembled for prayer, reading and hearing the Sacred Scripres, and other instructions. Though frequently mentioned the historical books of the New Testament, their origin not very well known; and many learned men are of pinion that they are of recent institution.

bertini, e regione, denoting that they were so styled from a with the Donatists at Carthage, anno 411, there is mentioned country. Further, in the acts of the celebrated conference one Victor, bishop of the church of Libertina; and in the acts of the Lateran council, which was held in 649, there is mention of Januarius gratia Dei episcopus sanctæ ecclesiæ Libertinensis, Januarius, by the grace of God, bishop of the holy church of Libertina; and therefore Fabricius in his GeographiAlthough sacrifices could only be offered at the holy taber-cal Index of Christian Bishoprics, has placed Libertina in what acle or temple, yet it does not appear that the Jews were stricted to any particular place for the performance of other Africa. Now, as all the other people of the several synagogues, was called Africa propria, or the proconsular province of xercises of devotion. Hence formerly, the praises of Jeho- mentioned in this passage of the Acts, are called from the ah were sung in the schools of the prophets, which the places whence they came, it is probable that the Libertines more devout Israelites seem to have frequented on Sabbath-were denominated in like manner; and as the Cyrenians and ays and new moons for the purpose of instruction and Alexandrians, who came from Africa, are placed next to the rayer. (1 Sam. x. 5-11. xix. 18-24. 2 Kings iv. 23.) Libertines in that catalogue, the supporters of this opinion During the Babylonish captivity, the Jews, being deprived think it probable, that they also belonged to the same counf the solemn ordinances of divine worship, resorted to the try. But we have no evidence to show that there were any ouse of some prophet, or other holy man, who was in the natives of this place at Jerusalem, at the period referred to actice of giving religious instruction to his own family, in the Acts of the Apostles. On the contrary, as it is well nd of reading the Scriptures. (Compare Ezek. xiv. 1. and L. 1. with Neh. viii. 18.) At length these domestic con- jure impediente manumissi sunt. Ulpian. tit. i. $6. 4 Cives Romani sunt Liberti, qui vindictâ, censu, aut testamento nullo regations became fixed in certain places, and a regular order f conducting divine worship was introduced. Philo2 thinks hese edifices were originally instituted by Moses: but as no mention is made of them during the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, their origin in Jerusalem is referred to the reigns of The Asmonæan princes, under whom they were first erected, and were soon greatly multiplied; though in Alexandria and other foreign places, where the Jews were dispersed, they were certainly of much greater antiquity. There appears to be an allusion to them in Psal. lxxiv. 4.8. In the time of the Maccabees, synagogues became so freDr. Hammond on Lukev i. 12. and Acts xvi. 13-16. Calmet's Dict. voce Praeucha Prideaux's Connection, part i. book vi. sub anno 444. vol i. -290. edit. 1720.

Philo, De Vita Mosis, lib. iii. p. 685.

Josephus, De Bell. Jud. lib. vii. c. 3. §3.

This appears from the following passage of Suetonius concerning Claudius, who, he says, was, ignarus temporibus Appii, et deinceps aliquamdiu Libertinos dictos, non ipsos, qui manumitterentur, sed ingenuos ex his procreatos. In vita Claudii, cap. 24. §4. p. 78. Pitisci.

Quintilian. de Institutione Oratoria, lib. 5. cap. 10. p. 246. edit. Gibson, 1693. Qui servus est, si manumittatur, fit Libertinus-Justinian. Institut. Ingenuus est is, qui statim ut natus est, liber est; sive ex duobus ingenuis lib. i. tit. v. Libertini sunt, qui ex justa servitute manumissi sunt. Tit. iv. matrimonio aditus est, sive ex libertinis duobus, sive ex altero libertino, et

altero ingenuo.

Of these there were great numbers at Rome. Tacitus informs us (Anal. lib. ii. cap. 85.) that four thousand Libertini, of the Jewish superstition, as he styles it, were banished at one time, by order of Tiberius, into Sardinia; and the rest commanded to quit Italy, if they did not adjure, by a certain day. See also Suetonius in vita Tiberii, cap. 36. Josephus (Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. 3. §5. edit. Haverc.) mentions the same fact. And Philo (Legat. ad Caium. p. 785. C. edit. Colon. 1613.) speaks of a good part of the city, beyond the Tiber, as inhabited by Jews, who were mostly Libertini, having been brought to Rome as captives and slaves, but, being made free by their masters, were permitted to live according to their own rites and customs.