Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/464

 430 Pliny's nattjeal histoet. [Book Y. men, to which indeed it owes its name. The bodies of animals will not siuk^ in its waters, and even those of bulls and camels float there. In length it exceeds 100 miles being at its greatest breadth twenty-five, and at its smallest six. Arabia of the JSTomades^ faces it on the east, and Machaerus on the south ^, at one time, next to Hierosoljma, the most strongly fortified place in Judaea. On the same side lies Callirrhoe'', a warm spring, remarkable for its me- dicinal qualities, and which, by its name, indicates the cele- brity its waters have gained. (17.) Lying on the west of Asphaltites, and sufficiently distant to escape its noxious exhalations, are the Esseni*, a ^ This is an exaggeration, though it is the fact that many heavy sub- stances, which in ordinary water would sink immediately, will float on the surface of this lake. It has been suggested, that the story here mentioned arose from the circumstance of the name of ' bulls,' or ' cows,' having been applied by the ancient Nabatsei to the large masses of asphaltum which floated on its siirface. 2 Ihe country of the Arabian Scenitse, or " tent people." 2 It lay on the east of the Dead Sea, and not the south, as here men- ioned by PUny, being a border fortress m the south of Persea, and on oie confines of the Nabatsei. There was a tradition that it was at this place that John the Baptist was beheaded. The city now bears the name of Mascra. springs, situate on the eastern side of Jordan, to which Herod the Great resorted during liis last iUness, by the advice of his physicians. The valley of Callirhoe was visited by Captains Irby and Mangles in 1818, and an interesting account of it is to befound in their 'Travels,' pp. 467-469. Tlie waters are sulphureous to the taste. ^ The Essenes, or Hessenes. These properly formed one of the great sects into which the Jews were divided in the time of Christ. They are not mentioned by name in the New Testament, but it has been con- jectured that they are alluded to in Matt. xix. 12, and Col. ii. 18, 23. As stated here by Pliny, they generally lived at a distance from large towns, in communities which bore a gi'eat resemblance to the monkish societies of later times. They sent gifts to the Temple at Jerusalem, but never ojQPered sacrifices there. They were divided into four classes, according to the time of their uiitiation. Thefr origin is uncer- tain. Some writers look upon them as the same as the Assidians, or Chasidim, mentioned in 1 Maccabees, ii, 42, vii. 13. Their principal society was probably the one mentioned by Pliny, and from this other smaller ones proceeded, and spread over Palestine, Sp'ia, and Egypt. The Essenes of Egyjjt were divided into two sects ; the practical Essenes, whose mode of life was the same as those of Palestine ; and the contemplative Essenes, who were called Tlierapeutcs.. Both sects main-
 * A Greek name, signifying the " Fine Stream." These were warm.