he Law and two of the Mishna.
At each meeting their remarks on these portions were discussed, and if
approved were incorporated into the Gemara. Rabbis Zabid, Gebhia Rychuma,
and Semo of Pumbedaitha;(2) and Rabbis Marimer, Adda bar Abbin, Nachman
bar Huno, and Touspho, presidents of the schools of Sura, labored for its
advancement; and it was finally completed by Rabbi Abino (Rabbina), and
sealed by Rabbi Jose about 498 A.D. He was the last of the "Dictators."
Those who lived after him were called "Opinionists," as they did not
dictate any doctrines; but only deduced opinions from what had already
been settled in the canon of the Talmud. The Opinionists were succeeded by
the Sublime Doctors, who were in turn replaced by the ordinary Rabbis. In
addition to the Talmud there has been handed down a vast amount of Jewish
learning, such as the Bereitha, the Tosephtoth or appendices, the Mechilta
or traditions unknown to Rabbi Judah the Holy, and the commentaries Sifra
and Sifre. Of these the Jews regard the Bereitha as second to the Mishna.
"The mark of Bereitha is 'the sages learned,' or 'it is once learned,' or
'it is learned in another one.' And everything which is not disputed of
all these things is an established decision. And whatever is disputed goes
according to the concluded decision. What is disputed in the Bereitha,
which is not questioned in the Mishna, the decision is according to the
Mishna. What is disputed in the Mishna, and not questioned in the
Bereitha, is not to be decided according to the Bereitha. And thus it is
said, 'If Rabbi Judah the Holy did not teach it, whence could Rabbi Chayya
know it?' The exception is, that when the decision of Rabbi Eliezer, the
son of Jacob, is given, it is regarded as equal to the Mishna. In 102
questions the decision is always with him."

The period during which both the Jerusalem and Babylon Talmuds were
compiled was a season of comparative peace for the Jews. From the death of
Rabbi Judah the Holy until Constantine ascended the throne the schools in
Tiberias were unmolested. Judah was succeeded in the Patriarchate by
Gamaliel; and he in turn gave way to Judah the second. Being inferior in
learning to some of his own Rabbis, the splendor of his Patriarchate was
eclipsed by the superior talents of Simon Ben Laches and Rabbi Jochanan.
From that time the Patriarchate gradually sank in estimation, till the
struggles for unlimited power, and the rapacity of the Rabbis, brought t