custom, retained by Moses, Gen. xxxviii. 24; Lev. xx. 14; xxi. 9; Josh. vii. 15, 25. The Jewish Rabbins suppose that the BURNING, which is mentioned in the Scriptures, is the operation of pouring melted lead down the throat of the living criminal. For this opinion there is no authority whatever.

II. Another mark of infamy was the suspension of the dead body on a tree or gallows. This was customary in Egypt, Gen. xl. 17-19; Numb. xxv. 4, 5; Deut. xxi. 22, 23. The person suspended was considered as a curse, an abomination in the sight of God, and as receiving this token of infamy from his hand. The body, nevertheless, was to be taken down and buried on the same day. The hanging, mentioned in 2 Sam. xxi. 6, was the work of the Gibeonites, and not of the Israelites. Posthumous suspension of this kind, for the purpose of conferring ignominy, differs materially from the CRUCIFIXION that was practised by the Romans, although the Jews gave such an extent to the law in Deut. xxi. 22, 23, as to include the last named punishment, John, xix. 31, et seq.; Galat. iii. 13. III. Heaps of stones were raised either directly upon the dead body, or upon the place where it was buried, Josh. vii. 25, 26; 2 Sam. xviii. 17. The pile of stones gathered for this purpose, was increased by the contributions of each passing traveller, who added one to the heap, in testimony of his aversion to the crime.

Examine in connection with this the two hundred and ninth Section.

§. 259. PUNISHMENTS INTRODUCED FROM OTHER NATIONS. There are other punishments mentioned in the Bible, in addition to those of which we have given an account; and which were introduced among the Hebrews at a period later than the days of Moses.

I. Decapitation. [This mode of punishment has been spoken of in the two hundred and fifty-sixth section.] It was properly a foreign punishment, and was frequently practised among the Persians, Greeks, Romans, and other nations.

II. Strangulation. The more recent Jews attributed the origin of this punishment to Moses, but without cause. They supposed strangulation to have been meant by the phrase, “He shall die the death;" and for the reason that this phrase was in

tended to express the easiest death. But their notions of an easy death must have been very strange, since, by their own accounts, it was as follows:-the criminal was thrust up to his middle in mud; a handkerchief was then tied round his neck, which was drawn tight by two lictors; and, whilst the process of strangulation was thus proceeding, melted lead was poured down his throat; Sanhedrin, x. 3.

III. Burning. Persons were burnt alive in a furnace, which, as has been observed, resembled in its form a well, Dan. iii.; comp. Chardin's Voyage, vol. IV. p. 276. This mode of punishment was practised among the Chaldeans, Jer. xxix. 22.

IV. The Lion's Den. This mode of punishment is still customary in Fez and Morocco. See accounts of Fez and Morocco by Hoest, c. ii. p. 77. Dan. vi.

V. Dichotomy or cutting asunder. This method of putting criminals to death prevailed among the Chaldeans and Persians. When this punishment was inflicted, the left hand and right foot, or the right hand and left foot, or both feet and hands, were cut off at the joints, Dan. ii. 5; Matt. xxiv. 51; Luke, xii. 46. A mutilation of this nature, of persons who had been punished with death, is mentioned in 2 Sam. iv. 12.

In this manner the

VI. Beating to death, Tuμavioμós. Greeks punished their slaves. The criminal was suspended to a stake, and beaten with rods, till he died, 2 Macc. vi. 10, 19, 28, 30; Heb. xi. 35.

VII. Sawing asunder. The criminal was sometimes sawn asunder lengthwise. This was more especially the practice in Persia. ISAIAH, according to the Talmudists, was put to death in this manner, by king Manasseh, Sanhedrin, p. 103. c. ii.; comp. Justin's Dialogue with Trypho. David inflicted this mode of punishment upon the conquered inhabitants of Rabbath Ammon. Comp. 1 Chron. xx. 3.

VIII. The Romans, for the gratification of the people, compelled their criminals, and also their enemies taken captive in war, to fight with wild beasts in the amphitheatre. They likewise compelled them to contend with one another in the manner of gladiators, till the life of one of them was terminated, 2 Tim. iv. 17; comp. 1 Cor. xv. 32.

IX. The Persians, in some instances, enclosed a place with high walls, and filled it with ashes. A piece of timber was made

to project over the ashes, and criminals of high rank were placed upon it. They were liberally supplied with meat and drink, until, overcome with sleep, they fell into the deceitful heap, and died an easy death. The Macedonians in Syria imitated this punishment, 2 Macc. xiii. 4-8.

X. It was the practice among the Greeks and Romans to precipitate some of their criminals, especially the sacrilegious, into the sea or a river. The persons who were thus put to death, were placed in a sack, with a stone tied round their necks, and then thrown into the water. Comp. Matt. xviii. 6; Mark, ix. 42.

XI. Crucifixion. This was a common mode of punishment among the Persians, Carthaginians, and Romans. The mode of crucifixion, adopted by the Maccabean princes, was that of the Romans. The Romans, at the urgent and tumultuous solicitations of the Jews, were the executioners in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. We shall therefore speak more particularly of this mode of punishment as practised by that people.

§. 260. CRUCIFIXION AS PRACTISED AMONG THE ROMANS.

The cross was the punishment inflicted by the Romans-on servants who had perpetrated crimes; on robbers; assassins; and rebels among which last Jesus was reckoned, on the ground of his making himself king or MESSIAH, Luke, xxiii. 1—5, 13—15.

:

The words in which the sentence was given, were as follows: "Thou shalt go to the cross." The person who was subjected to this punishment was deprived of all his clothes, excepting something around the loins. In this state of nudity he was beaten, sometimes with rods, but more generally with whips. Such was the severity of this flagellation that numbers died under it. Jesus was crowned with thorns and made the subject of mockery but nothing of this kind could be legally done, or, in other words, insults of this kind were not among the ordinary attendants of crucifixion. They were owing, in this case, solely to the petulant spirit of the Roman soldiers, Matt. xxvii. 29; Mark, xv. 17; John, xix. 2, 5.

The criminal, having been beaten, was subjected to the further suffering of being obliged to carry the cross himself to the place

of punishment, which was commonly a hill near the public way, and out of the city. The place of crucifixion at Jerusalem was a hill to the north-west of the city.

The cross, Taupòs, a post, otherwise called the unpropitious or infamous tree, consisted of a piece of wood erected perpendicularly, and intersected by another at right angles near the top, so as to resemble the letter T. The crime, for which the person suffered, was inscribed on the transverse piece near the top of the perpendicular one.

There is no mention made in ancient writers of any thing on which the feet of the person crucified rested. Near the middle, however, of the perpendicular beam, there projected a piece of wood, on which he sat; and which served as a support to the body; the weight of which might otherwise have torn away the hands from the nails driven through them. Here we see the ground of certain phrases which occur, such as the following: "To ride upon the cross," "" to be borne upon the cross," "to rest upon the sharp cross," etc. Compare Irenæus against Heresies, II. 42; Justin's Dialogue with Trypho; and Tertullian against the Gentiles, book II; also against Marcion, book III. c. 18.

The cross, which was erected at the place of punishment, and firmly fixed in the ground, rarely exceeded ten feet in height. The nearly naked victim was elevated to the small projection in the middle; the hands were then bound by a rope round the transverse beam, and nailed through the palm. We see in this statement the ground of such expressions as the following: « Το mount upon the cross," to leap upon the cross," "to bring one upon the cross," etc. Comp. Cicero against Verres, V. 66; and Josephus, Jewish War, book VII. c. 6. §. 4.

ever.

The position taken by some, viz. that the persons who suffered crucifixion, were not, in all cases, fastened to the cross by nails through the hands and feet, but were merely bound to it by ropes, cannot be proved by the testimony of any ancient writer whatThat the feet, as well as the hands, were fastened to the cross by means of nails, is expressly asserted in the play of Plautus, entitled MOSTELLARIA, Act. II. sc. i. 12; comp. Tertullian against the Jews, c. 1, and against Marcion, book III. c. 19. In regard to the nailing of the feet, it may be furthermore observed, that Gregory Nazianzen has asserted, that one nail only was driven through both of them; but Cyprian, (DE PASSIONE,)

who had been a personal witness to crucifixions, and is, consequently, in this case, the better authority, states on the contrary, that two nails or spikes were driven, one through each foot.

The crucified person remained suspended in this manner until he died, and the corpse had become putrid. While he exhibited any signs of life, he was watched by a guard; but they left him when it appeared that he was dead. The corpse was not buried, except by express permission, which was sometimes, although rarely, granted by the emperor on his birthday. An exception, however, to this general practice was made by the Romans in favour of the Jews, on account of what is said in Deut. xxi. 22, 23; and in Judea, accordingly, crucified persons were buried on the same day. When, therefore, there was not a prospect that they would die on the day of the crucifixion, the executioners hastened the extinction of life, by kindling a fire under the cross, so as to suffocate them with the smoke; or by letting loose wild beasts upon them; or by breaking their bones upon the cross with a mallet, as upon an anvil; or by piercing them with a spear, in order that they might bury them on the same day.

NOTE. The Jews, in the times of which we are speaking, viz. whilst they were under the jurisdiction of the Romans, were in the habit of giving the criminal, before the commencement of his sufferings, a medicated drink of wine and myrrh, Prov. xxxi. 6. The object of this was to produce intoxication, and thereby render the pains of the crucifixion less sensible to the sufferer, Sanhedrin, I. p. 250. This beverage was refused by the Saviour, for the obvious reason that he chose to die with the faculties of his mind undisturbed and unclouded, Matt. xxvii. 34; Mark, xv. 23. It should be remarked, that this sort of drink, which was probably offered out of kindness, was different from the vinegar, which was subsequently offered to the Saviour, by the Roman soldiers. [The latter was a mixture of vinegar and water, denominated POSCA, and was a common drink for the soldiers in the Roman army,] Luke, xxiii. 36; John, xix. 29.

§. 261. THE CRUELTIES OF CRUCIFIXION.

CRUCIFIXION was not only the most ignominious, it was likewise the most cruel mode of punishment. So very much So, that Cicero (in Verrem, V. 64, et 66.) is justified in saying in re