WAILING-PLACE OF THE JEWS.

511

courts and places for bathing, and broad spaces for camps, insomuch that, by having all conveniences that cities wanted, it might seem to be composed of several cities: but by its magnificence it seemed to be a palace; and as the entire structure resembled that of a tower, it contained also four other distinct towers at its four corners, whereof the others were but fifty cubits high, whereas that which lay upon the south-east corner was seventy cubits high, that from. thence the whole Temple might be viewed; but on the corner where it joined the two cloisters of the Temple it had passages down to them both, through which the guard went several ways amongst the cloisters with their arms, on the Jewish festivals, in order to watch the people, that they might not then attempt to make any innovations, for the Temple was a fortress that guarded the city, as was the Tower of Antonia a guard to the Temple."

It was doubtless down some of the passages from the fortress to those cloisters of the Temple that "the chief captain of the band immediately took soldiers and centurions," when he heard "that all Jerusalem was in an uproar, and ran down to" the rescue of Paul. "And when they [the people] saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul." And as Paul was being “carried into the castle, when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people;" and "standing on the stairs," facing that enraged mob, he "beckoned with the hand unto the people," and made them that noble address which is found in the twenty-second chapter of the Acts. Considering the circumstances and the place, that was one of the most courageous acts which even the intrepid apostle to the Gentiles ever performed.

When Pompey attacked the Temple, the fortress of Antonia had become so identified with it that both were called by the general name of "the Temple ;" and this fortress was probably partially pulled down by Titus, in order to facilitate the approach of his engines to the attack upon the Temple. It was doubtless rebuilt and fortified by Adrian when he restored the walls of Jerusalem, and erected his temple to Jupiter on the site of the ancient Jewish Temple; but of its subsequent history nothing is known.

1 1 B. J. v. v. 8.

Acts xxi. 31-40; xxii. 1-21.

After leaving the Haram we spent some time at the Jews' place

of wailing, at the base of the wall, in the valley of the Tyropœon, regarded by them as having belonged to their ancient Temple, but which now supports the west side of the Haram area. That part of the wall is undoubtedly ancient, and has been the resort of the Jews for many centuries. It is one hundred and fifty feet long by fifty-five feet high, but only the nine lowest

Some of the

courses of stone belong to the Herodian period. stones are very large, one measuring sixteen feet in length, another thirteen, and of proportionate height and thickness.

No sight meets the eye in Jerusalem more sadly suggestive than this wailing of the Jews over the ruins of their Temple. "Here, bowed in the dust, they may at least weep undisturbed over the fallen glory of their race, and bedew with their tears the soil which so many thousands of their forefathers once moistened with their blood." This touching custom of the Jews is very old, and in past centuries they had to pay large sums to their oppressors for the miserable privilege of kissing the stones and pouring out their lamentations over the remains of their ancient sanctuary. Every Friday they assemble there in great crowds, and, with trembling lips and tearful eyes, they sing or chant portions of Scripture and of their prayer-books, especially the words of the Prophet and the Psalmist "Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity forever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste." "O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. We are become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. How long, Lord? wilt thou be angry forever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire? O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us; for we are brought very low.”

The Jews were expelled from Jerusalem after their revolt during the reign of Adrian, and the capture of the city by him. In the time of Constantine they were allowed to look upon Jerusalem from the surrounding hills, and to enter it once a year-on the day of its destruction by Titus-to wail over the ruins of the Temple. But this privilege they were obliged to purchase of the Roman soldiers. South of the wailing-place are the great stones of the arch which Dr. Robinson identified as part of the bridge on which Titus stood, in order to hold a parley with the Jews in the Temple. One of 1 Isa. lxiv. 9-11. ? Psa. lxxix. 1, 4, 5, 8.

these stones is twenty-five feet long, another a little more than twenty, and the whole width of the bridge was about fifty-one feet; while its length across the Tyropcon to the perpendicular face of Zion could not have been less than three hundred and fifty. Of course there must have been several piers and arches. The whole causeway is supposed to have formed a magnificent passage from Zion to the south porch of the Temple. The identification, history, and object of this gigantic work have, in our day, furnished an arena of debate and strife almost as noisy and earnest as when the Temple was sacked and burned by the Romans. It has subsided now, and we shall do nothing to renew it.

Major Wilson and Captain Warren sunk deep shafts in the bed of the Tyropoon, and discovered not only one of the piers of the bridge, but nearly three courses of the masonry of the arch remaining just

ROBINSON'S ARCH.

as they fell. The stones in the lowest tier are three and a half feet high; those in the next, three feet nine inches; and in the

WILSON'S ARCH.

515 third, four feet. The pier was fifty-one feet long and twelve feet thick, and was found opposite the remains of Robinson's Arch. At a depth of more than sixty feet below the springing of this arch they came upon a rock-cut channel or drain, twelve feet deep and four feet wide, the bottom of which is seventy-four feet below the springing of Robinson's Arch, and one hundred and seven below the level of the roadway of that bridge. Captain Warren says, in connection with this channel: "If we are to suppose that the roughly-faced stones at the south-west angle were never exposed to view, we must presume, also, that the two apparent voussoirs lying on the aqueduct under Robinson's Arch belonged to a bridge which crossed the Tyropoon valley previous to the building of the south-west angle of the Sanctuary." This would seem to imply that there was a bridge lower and more ancient than Robinson's Arch; and if the latter was constructed by Herod, the former could not have been of a later date than that of the restored Temple of Nehemiah, or even the Temple of Solomon itself.

These facts show clearly the great depth of the Tyropoon valley, and the consequent necessary height of the west wall of the Temple area. The excavations and the discoveries made by Major Wilson and Captain Warren, in regard to the age of the foundations around the base of the Temple Mount, are in themselves of the utmost importance.

Major Wilson, during a former visit, took our party to see the great subterranean arch, since named after him, which he had then recently discovered under Bâb es Silsileh-the Gate of the Chain— and north of the Jews' wailing-place. Passing through a gate into a garden, and going a short distance northwards along the west wall of the Haram, we climbed over a heap of rubbish, and descended some eight feet below the surface to a narrow shelf or ledge made by the south end of a cistern. A dozen candles were lighted, which merely served to make the inner darkness visible, and then adjusting the ladder, we stepped carefully down to the bottom of the cistern called el Burak, after the winged steed of Muhammed. This cistern is about seventy feet long from north to south, and the width is that of the span of the arch-forty-two feet. The arch springs from the foundation-wall of the Haram, as does also that of