century visited India to investigate the condition of his Buddhist coreligionists. We do not, therefore, doubt his geographical accuracy, whenever he turns aside to make any statement of this nature. As Gibbon justly remarks, "The errors and fictions of the Jewish rabbi are not a sufficient ground to deny the reality of his travels." Moreover, Rabbi Benjamin is particularly remarkable for his caution; and it is here that the contrast between him and Pethachia, between the commercial traveller and the tourist, is so amusingly marked, in parts where they have traversed the same ground. So

cautious indeed is Rabbi Benjamin, that he draws a careful distinction between "what he heard" and "what he saw." Considering the state of knowledge at the time when he wrote, the marvel is not at the fables and fictions that have crept into his narrative, but that these are so few and that the whole is distinguished by such accuracy and sobriety.

It has been computed that the Itinerary refers to a period extending over about fourteen years, falling between the second and third crusade-probably from 1159 to 1173. Tibet appears to have been the furthest goal of the rabbi's journey. He probably thus combined the object of a pilgrimage with his commercial purposes. Jerusalem and Bagdad were to Jews what Mecca is to the Mahommedan. Jerusalem was the city of their hopes, while Bagdad was in those days the seat of the last princes of the Jewish nation; for the eastern Jews at that time enjoyed, to some extent, the right of self-government.

Now, so mutilated, incomplete, or abridged is the Itinerary of

Rabbi Benjamin, that we might even have remained ignorant of his name, but for a preface written by some later hand, whose authenticity has never been doubted. It embodies all known to us of our traveller.

"This book," ""* so runs the preface," contains the report of Rabbi Benjamin, the son of Jonah of blessed memory, of Tudela in the kingdom of Navarre. This man travelled through many and distant countries, as related in this account, and wrote down in every place whatever he saw or what was told him by men of integrity, whose names were known in Spain. Rabbi Benjamin also mentions some of the principal men in the places he visited, and when he returned he brought this report along with him to the land of Castile in the year 933 (1173).

Rabbi

"The above-mentioned Benjamin was a man of wisdom and understanding, and of much information; and, after strict inquiry, his words were found to be true and correct, for he was a true man." Then follows the diary:

"I first set out from the city of Saragossa, and proceeded down the river Ebro to Tortosa," says Rabbi Benjamin, thus plunging into medias res, and stating neither date nor mode of conveyance, though in this instance it can be inferred. That he does not mention his means of locomotion is to be regretted, but he is always careful to tell us how many days' journey the places he visits lie apart. Two days' journey, he tells us, brought him from Tortosa to Tarragona, that most ancient city of Spain, which is supposed to have been built by the Phoenicians, and whose Cyclopæan remains evidently impressed the Rabbi, though he only notes down

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the fact of their existence with the unpretentious solemnity that characterises his narrative. Two more days brought him to Barcelona. The city, though small, is handsome, and is situated on the seashore. Merchants resort thither for goods from all parts of the world from Greece, from Pisa, Genoa, and Sicily, from Alexandria in Egypt, from Palestine and the adjacent countries." Four days and a half brings him to Narbonne; this journey must have been performed by sea. Narbonne would appear to have been a place of repute among the Jews of that time, in consequence of the study of the Law carried on there, which spread thence over all countries. Rabbi Celonymos (honourable name) is mentioned as a teacher of great distinction, " and a descendant of the house of David," adds R. Benjamin," as proved by his pedigree. This latter addendum is characteristic of our author's cau

tion.

The weakness of boasting of noble descent would appear to be as old as the world, and Davidites, or descendants of the house of David, were naturally held in especial reverence as the tribe whence the Messiah should issue. In consequence of exterminating wars and the dispersion, the records of the old families had been often lost, and spurious pedigrees grew by no means uncommon. This man's pedigree seems, however, to have satisfied R. Benjamin as to to its genuineness, and a remark he goes on to make concerning him gives a striking picture of the political state of the French Jews of that time, which was apparently by no means as favourable as that of their Spanish brethren. "This man holds landed property from the sovereigns of the country of which nobody can deprive him by force." The permission to hold property in land was evidently granted as a

favour, and the protection of the ruler required, in order to shelter the Israelites from those who were then, as now, jealous of their superior wealth. They cannot, how-ever, have laboured under any crushing restrictions, as was the case in later times. Both at Semel and Beaucaire the Jews presided over a university, where they taught Scriptural and Talmudic learning; and at Bourg de St. Gilles, a place of pilgrimage to pious Christians, who here visited the shrine of St. Egidius (St. Giles), a Jew was one of the household officers of Raymond, the Prince of Toulouse, who took so active a part in the Crusades. We are very fond of vaunting our superior toleration as opposed to that of the dark ages, but when we meet with statements like these we are forced to pause and consider whether we have really advanced so much in this, the greatest of all social virtues.

From Marseilles our author took ship for Genoa, a journey then of about four days, where he only found two Jewish residents. Genoa was at the time engaged in one of its numerous wars with Pisa. "Pisa," he tells us, "is of very great extent, containing about ten thousand houses, from which war is carried on in times of civil commotion. All the inhabitants are brave, no king nor prince rules over them, the supreme authority being vested in senators chosen by the people." Only twenty Jewish residents were discovered here; at Lucca there were forty, but in Rome, to which a six days' journey brought our author, matters stood well with his Hebrew brethren. He found two hundred Jews living there, much respected and exempt from tribute. Those were not the days when

ex

of shame, or the annual Christian sermon at which the Jews were driven like cattle to attend, and sundry wretched ones suffered themselves to be converted time after time in consideration of a few pieces of silver; Christian attentions abolished by Pius IX. These were the days of Pope Alexander III., the wise and firm pontiff who resisted Frederic Barbarossa, and supported the Lombard League. He was ceedingly well disposed towards the Hebrews; many of them were officers in his service, and a Rabbi was actually steward of his household, and minister of his private property. In the third General Council of the Lateran, Alexander accorded to them yet further privileges, notwithstanding some obstinate resistance evinced by various divines attending the assembly. The only restriction imposed on them was prohibition against keeping Christian servants. No wonder Rabbi Benjamin was pleased at the condition of his Roman brethren; no wonder that Jews honour the memory of this Pope, and that on his return from the exile into which he had been forced by the pretension of the anti-Pope, they went out in procession to meet him, bearing flags and the roll of the law. It would appear that R. Benjamin's visit occurred soon after this event.

At Rome our author went to see some of its sights, besides visiting the Hebrew congregations. It is not said how long he stayed, but his visits in most places were brief, which once more supports the idea that they were prompted by business, and not by pleasure. After recording that Rome is divided into two parts by the Tiber, he narrates that " the city contains numerous buildings and structures entirely different from

a

all other buildings on the face of the earth. The extent of ground covered by ruined and inhabited Rome amounts to four and twenty miles." He then proceeds to mention a few of its wonders, and finally winds up as though wearied out, "Rome contains many other remarkable buildings and works, the whole of which nobody can enumerate." The list of those which he does enumerate shows a quaint mixture of fact and absurdity; but in those days even Romans knew SO little regarding the monuments of their city, and even the learned, as shown by Gibbon, gave credence to such fantastic myths, that a charge of excessive credulity can hardly be brought against this simple Jewish traveller. Besides, ought we to say anything, who know how much even the modern tourist absorbs? R. Benjamin tells us that, "In the outskirts of Rome is the palace of Titus who was rejected by three hundred senators in consequence of his having wasted three years in the conquest of Jerusalem, which task, according to their will, he ought to have accomplished in two years." Now, the so-named ruins R. Benjamin doubtless saw, and the story was told him. He also visited the hall of the palace of Vespasian; the "large place of worship called St. Peter of Rome, and the large palace of Julius Cæsar." He was shown a cave wherein he was told Titus hid the vessels of the Temple of Jerusalem, and another cave that was said to hold the bones of the ten Jewish martyrs, teachers of the Mishna, who suffered violent death about the time of Hadrian. At San Giovanni in Porta Latina he was shown the two copper pillars that had been constructed by Solomon, whose name they bore engraved, and the Jews in Rome told him

that every year, about the 9th of Ab, the time of the destruction of both temples at Jerusalem, these pillars sweated so much that the water ran down from them. Outside San Giovanni Laterano he notes a statue of Constantine, cast in copper, of which man and horse are gilt. Can this have been the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, which occupied this site in the twelfth century, until it was removed by Michael Angelo to its present position on the Campidoglio?

From Rome Rabbi Benjamin proceeded to Caprera, a four days' journey. Here he found three hundred Jews, and among them many very wise men of universal fame whose names he then proceeds to give in accordance with his custom. "This large city," he tells us, 66 was built by King Capis; the town is elegant, but the water is bad and the country unhealthy." Naples is rapidly dismissed, it is evident our author had no eye for scenery. There were five hundred Jews here, and this appears to have pleased him more than the bay or the sky. He records, however, that the city is very strongly fortified. Here at Naples occurs the first passage that shows some confusion, leading one to suppose it was either wrongly transcribed or that R. Benjamin is here only recording "what he heard." He speaks of Pozzuoli and Sorrento as one and the same place; and, as he does not mention the name of any Jews resident there, it seems doubtful whether he did visit either of the places he or his editors have commingled ingeniously. The passage deserves quotation for its amusing mixture. of fact and fiction.

"From thence to Pozzuoli or Sorrento, a large city built by Tsintsan Hadar'eser, who fled in fear of King David, of blessed

memory. The city has been inundated in two spots by the sea. Even to this day you may see the streets and towers of this submerged city. A hot spring, which issues forth from under ground, produces the oil called petroleum, which is collected upon the surface of the water and used in medicine. There are also the hot baths, provided from hot subterranean springs, which here issue from under ground. Two of these baths are situated on the sea-shore, and whoever is afflicted with any disease generally experiences great relief, if not certain cure, from the use of these waters. During the summer season all persons afflicted with complaints flock thither from the whole of Lombardy. From this place a man may travel fifteen miles by a causeway under the mountains. This way was con

structed by King Romulus, the founder of Rome, who fearel David, King of Israel, and Joab his general, and constructed buildings both upon and under the mountains."

Salerno was personally visited, and hence the account of it is more matter of fact. The traveller duly emphasizes its claim to distinction as "the principal medical university of Christendom." Amalfi, half a day distant, impressed him with its commercial activity. The city had certainly by this time lost some of its splendour, having been pillaged by the Pisans in 1135, but the catastrophe so graphically related by Petrarch, which deprived it of its harbour and maritime importance, had not yet occurred, and Amalfi was still a place of considerable mark, a fact hard to realise nowadays, when we visit this tiny town squeezed in its rocky fastnesses, with its population of beggars. Yet up to a certain point R. Benjamin's description obtains to this day.

Our author now made his way across the peninsula to Trani, a journey that took him six days, and must therefore have been fairly rapid, seeing he stopped at various places on the way, and visited the Jewish congregations who mustered in good numbers, considering the size of the various towns. He speaks of Trani as a large and handsome town, where all the pilgrims bound for Jerusalem were wont to assemble on account of the convenience of its port. Here he found a goodly congregation of Jews. To this day Trani possesses several synagogues dating back to these times, and affords many indications of the former prosperity and importance of the place. One day's journey brought R. Benjamin to St. Nicholas di Bari, and it is difficult to identify this, now the most important commercial town in Apulia, with a large city which was destroyed by King William of Sicily. The place still lies in ruins, and contains neither Jewish nor Christian inhabitants; but the facts tally with history. In a day and a half R. Benjamin struck across the land to Taranto. The Greek element evidently still prevailed in his days, since he speaks of the inhabitants as Greeks. Returning to Brindisi and proceeding thence to Otranto, now an insignificant fishing town, but then a favourite point of embarkation, our author crossed in two days to Corfu. Here he only discovered one Jew, who was a dyer by pro

fession. It is a singular circumstance that wherever Rabbi Ben

jamin in his travels finds the numbers of the Jews small, either ten, sufficient to form a synagogue, and to be allowed to say the great prayers, or less, their occupation is always that of dyers. Can it be argued from this that any stigma was attached in those days to this trade?

Two more days' journey by sea brought him to Arta, which he names as the confine of the empire of Manuel, King of Greece. Anatolica, Gatras, Lepanto are then successively visited; and it reads comically to hear not the slightest classical allusion, to find a traveller in search of nothing save the various Jews resident in each place. At Crissa he found two hundred Jews living by themselves on Mount Parnassus, carrying on agriculture upon their own land and property, a most remarkable fact, as the Jews rarely or never affect agriculture, so much so that Porson, in conversation with Rogers, noted the excuse of the steward (Luke xvi., 3), "I cannot dig, to beg I am ashamed," as a peculiarly Jewish excuse, adding

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Who, from that day to this, has seen a Jew who was a beggar or an agriculturist?" There can therefore have been no oppressive restrictions on the Jews in the Greece of those days. Indeed, our author seems to have found their condition prosperous throughout the dominion. At Thebes he speaks of two thousand Jewish inhabitants, who were the most eminent manufacturers of silk and purple cloth in all Greece.

What probably attracted them in such numbers was the fact recorded by Gibbon, that all persons employed on the workmanship of parchment, silk, and purple, as well as the mariners of the Peloponessus, were exempted