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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Basnage

nor was he aware of the fact that Spanish Jews had accompanied Columbus to the New World while he assumed, following Manasseh b. Israel (see the account of Aaron Levi, or Antonio de Montazinos, at the end of "L'Esperanca d'Israel"), that the remnants of the Ten Tribes, after living in Tatary, had in the dim past crossed the Pacific to America. This defect is perhaps due to the motives which

Bertinoro, Amsterdam, 1700 from a translation of the Pirke Abot and from the Latin version of the

governed Basnage in his choice of sources. end of his preface Basnage says

exception of " Yad ha-Hazakah." Basnage's conception of Jewish theology and his interpretation of the religious controversies bear



At

the

" In writing tills history, we have given preference to the writers of the Jewish nation, so long as reason and the love of truth have not constrained us to discard them. The dogmas and the religion we have gathered from the writings of Maimonides, Abraham ibn Ezra, Abravanel, Manasseh b. Israel, and the chief Cabalists. The Mishnah and its commentators have furnished us with the rites and ceremonies. It has been more difficult to deduce the history, since the authors of chronicles, both short and long, Abraham b. Dior, Gedaliah ibn Yahya, David Uans, and Solomon ibn Verga, dwell upon the names of the elders of tradition rather than on general and particular events. If Manasseh and Barrios ('Historia Universal Judaica,' Amsterdam, 1683) had fulfilled their promise to write this history, we should have found it most helpful. As they were not able to carry out their plans, we had to be satisfied with what we could And."

After this general resume, Basnage gives a list of the authors he has cited, of which the following is a summary arranged according to subject-matter: On Bible exegesis (of which, if he read English, he must have had first-hand knowledge) Henry Ainsworth, "Annotations upon the Five Books of Moses," London, 1639; John His

"A

Discourse Concerning the Authority, Style, and Perfection of the Books of the Old and New Testament." London, 1693; P. Alix, "The Judgment of the Ancient Jewish Church Against the Unitarians," London, 1699 Humphrey Hody, " Contra Historiam Aristea? de LXX" (Oxford, 1685); idem, " De Bibliorum Textibus Originalibus Versionibus, " etc., Oxford, 1705, in addition to the works of Everard van der Hoogt, Johann Heinrich Hottinger, and others. Here may be added the works on Hebrew philology cited by Basnage: Cappel, "Arcanum Punctationis Revelatum"; Drusius, "Queestiones Hebraic* " Fagius, " Targum Hierosolymitanum " Gousset, " CommenThe Hebrew writers, tarii Linguae Hebraica?." however, Basnage had to read in Latin versions, so and here again he far as they had been translated made reservations in regard to dogmas contradictory to Christianity. Thus, in citing the commentary on Isaiah by " R. Moses Al-shik " he adduces for a corrective, as it were, C. L'Empereur (Leyden, 1631) and in order to provide a refutation of Abravanel, of whom he knew only his commentaries on Isaiah and Obadiah.he adduces C. L'Empereur against the former commentary (Leyden, 1613) and Sebaldi MoreSnell (Nuremberg, 1647) against the latter. over, for historic purposes he did not make use of the prefaces written by the exegete Snell to the commentaries on other books. Of Abraham ibn Ezra lie knew only three short treatises, extracted by Buxtorf from his large Bible commentary, and appended to the version of the "Cuzari," Basel, 1660. Whatever knowledge of the Talmud he could under these circumstances possess, he derived from the Latin version of the Mishnah by Surenhuys, with the commentaries of Maimonides and Obadiah de

Sources.

Edwards,















two Talmudic treatises Sanhedrin and Makkot, by John Cochor Coceejus (Amsterdam, 1629). Pie had some knowledge even of the two Midrashim, one on the Book of Esther, the other on Lamentations; and he was well acquainted with all the works of Maimonides that had been translated into Latin, with the

the marks of the same lack of direct knowledge. In this connection he cites Carpzov, " Introductio ad

Theologiam Judaicam " (Amsterdam); Carret, "Judaeus Convertus " (appended to the "Synagoga Judaica" of Buxtorf); "Colloquium Judseo-Christia-

num";

Fetchius, "Ecclesia Judaica," Strasburg, 1670; St. Augustine, "Altercatio Synagoga? et Ecclesia? " (ed. Benedictine, viii., Antwerp, 1700); and

Wagenseil, "Tela Ignea Satame." To these maybe added, as a doubtful source, P. Alix, "De Adventu Messia?, Dissertationes Ad versus Judosos," LonThrough such reading the most impardon, 1701.

Dm

mind must become biased. For purely historical material, Basnage consulted,

tial

named in his preface, the writings of the bishop of Lyons, Agobard, Arias Montanus, Miguel de Barrios, Isaac Cardoso, "Las Excellencias de los Hebreos " (Amsterdam, 1683); Cunajus, " De Republica Hebrseorum " Frischmuth, " De Gloria Tenipli Secundi " the works of Manasseh b. Israel, collections of the reports of councils, and the Roman codes, as well as others. For chronology, he cites, among others, Henry Historical Dodwell, "De Veteribus Grrecorum and Geo- Romanorumque Cyclis, Obiterque de graphical Judseorum Cyelo iEtate Christi," Oxford, 1701; P. Hardouin, "De PasSources, chate," Paris, 1691, and Selden. As a historian he was therefore a popularizer. For geography, Basnage carefully read: Adrichom, "Descriptio Terra? Sancta" Cologne, 1682; "The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela," translated with notes by Constantin L'Empereur (Leyden) William Baldensel, " Odoeporicon ad Terrain Sanctam," in the " Lectiones Antiqua? " of Canisius, v. Bochart, "Phaleg" (Caen), and " Hierozoicon " (London). When he refers to the book of Eldad ha-Dani in only its Hebrew form, he confesses thereby his ignorance In the same way he shows lack of of its contents. knowledge with regard to Pethahiah of Regensburg, and Abraham Farissol he misnames " Peritsul. Basnage profitably used the five volumes of the " Bibliotheca Rabbinica " of Bartolocci, Rome, 1675/ together with all the works of the two Buxtorfs. He also studied the Karaite sect in the extract from the Bible commentary of the Karaitic Jew, Aaron b. Joseph, translated and annotated by Louis Frey of Basel, Amsterdam, 1705, and in Simonville's " Supplement to Leon of Modena " and information concerning the Samaritans lie obtained from Chris" toph Cellarius, " Collectanea Historia? Samaritans He also could get a fair pic(Ciza? [Zeitz], 1688). ture of Jewish rites and usages from the book of Rabbi Isaac Arias. "Tesoro de Preceptos Adonde se Encierran las Jovas dc los 613 Preceptos que

in addition to the authors