instruction, even the legal processes and civil causes—­in a word, all the activity of the nation was concentrated there.[2] It was an arena where arguments were perpetually clashing, a battlefield of disputes, resounding with sophisms and subtle questions.  The temple had thus much analogy with a Mahometan mosque.  The Romans at this period treated all strange religions with respect, when kept within proper limits,[3] and carefully refrained from entering the sanctuary; Greek and Latin inscriptions marked the point up to which those who were not Jews were permitted to advance.[4] But the tower of Antonia, the headquarters of the Roman forces, commanded the whole enclosure, and allowed all that passed therein to be seen.[5] The guarding of the temple belonged to the Jews; the entire superintendence was committed to a captain, who caused the gates to be opened and shut, and prevented any one from crossing the enclosure with a stick in his hand, or with dusty shoes, or when carrying parcels, or to shorten his path.[6] They were especially scrupulous in watching that no one entered within the inner gates in a state of legal impurity.  The women had an entirely separate court.

[Footnote 1:  The temple and its enclosure doubtless occupied the site of the mosque of Omar and the haram, or Sacred Court, which surrounds the mosque.  The foundation of the haram is, in some parts, especially at the place where the Jews go to weep, the exact base of the temple of Herod.]

[Footnote 2:  Luke ii. 46, and following; Mishnah, Sanhedrim, x. 2.]

[Footnote 3:  Suet., Aug. 93.]

[Footnote 4:  Philo, Legatio ad Caium, Sec. 31; Jos., B.J., V. v. 2, VI. ii. 4; Acts xxi. 28.]

[Footnote 5:  Considerable traces of this tower are still seen in the northern part of the haram.]

[Footnote 6:  Mishnah, Berakoth, ix. 5; Talm. of Babyl., Jebamoth, 6 b; Mark xi. 16.]

It was in the temple that Jesus passed his days, whilst he remained at Jerusalem.  The period of the feasts brought an extraordinary concourse of people into the city.  Associated in parties of ten to twenty persons, the pilgrims invaded everywhere, and lived in that disordered state in which Orientals delight.[1] Jesus was lost in the crowd, and his poor Galileans grouped around him were of small account.  He probably felt that he was in a hostile world which would receive him only with disdain.  Everything he saw set him against it.  The temple, like much-frequented places of devotion in general, offered a not very edifying spectacle.  The accessories of worship entailed a number of repulsive details, especially of mercantile operations, in consequence of which real shops were established within the sacred enclosure.  There were sold beasts for the sacrifices; there were tables for the exchange of money; at times it seemed like a bazaar.  The inferior officers of the temple