lso whatever they say is mightier than an
oath, but swearing is avoided by them, and they regard it worse than
perjury, for they say that he who cannot be believed without swearing by
God is already condemned. They also devote great attention to the study of
the works of the ancients and select from them those things that are
profitable for soul and body. Also they seek out such roots as may be
effective for the cure of their diseases and inquire into the properties
of stones.

[Sidenote: Jos. Jew. War, II, 8:7]
To one who desires to enter their sect, admission is not immediately
granted; but he is prescribed the same method of living as they use for a
year during which he is still excluded, and they give him a small hatchet,
and girdle and the white garment. And when during that time he has given
evidence of self-control, he approaches nearer to their way of living and
is allowed to share the waters of purification. However, he is not even
now allowed to live with them, for after this demonstration of his
fortitude, his character is tried two years more, and if he appears to be
worthy, they then admit him into the society. But before he is allowed to
touch their common food, he is obliged to swear to them awful oaths that
in the first place he will show piety toward God and then that he will
observe justice toward men, and that he will do no harm to any one either
voluntarily or at the command of others, and that he will always hate the
wicked, and help the righteous, and that he will show fidelity to all men
and especially to those in authority, that he will be a lover of truth and
denounce those who tell lies, and that he will keep his hands clean from
theft, and his soul from unlawful gain. Moreover he swears to communicate
their doctrines to no one otherwise than he received them himself, and
that he will abstain from robbery, and that he will faithfully preserve
the books of their sect and the names of the angels.

[Sidenote: Jos. Jew. War, II, 8:8a, 9a-c]
Those who are caught in any heinous sins they cast out of their society;
and he who is thus expelled often dies miserably. And in the judgments
they pronounce they are most exacting and just, nor do they pass sentence
by the votes of a court having less than one hundred members, and what is
determined by them is unalterable. What they most of all honor, after God
himself, is the name of their legislator [Moses], whom, if any one
blasphemes, he is punished by de