, as he
caught him up, with having brought him a distance of four hundred miles
to save him from an act of willful self-destruction. The Rabbi told him
that it was his poverty which had given to the temptation the power of
seduction. Thereupon Elijah gave him a vessel full of gold denarii and
departed.

_Kiddushin_, fol. 40, col. 1.

"Pashur, the son of Immer the priest" (Jer. xx. 1) had four hundred
servants, and every one of them rose to the rank of the priesthood. One
consequence was that an insolent priest hardly ever appeared in Israel
but his genealogy could be traced to this base-born, low-bred ancestry.
Rabbi Elazar said, "If thou seest an impudent priest, do not think evil
of him, for it is said (Hos, iv. 4), 'Thy people are as they that strive
with the priest.'"

Ibid., fol. 70, col. 2.

David had four hundred young men, handsome in appearance and with their
hair cut close upon their foreheads, but with long flowing curls behind,
who used to ride in chariots of gold at the head of the army. These were
men of power (men of the fist, in the original), the mighty men of the
house of David, who went about to strike terror into the world.

_Kiddushin_, fol. 76, col. 2.

Four hundred boys and as many girls were once kidnapped and torn from
their relations. When they learned the purpose of their capture, they
all exclaimed, "Better drown ourselves in the sea; then shall we have an
inheritance in the world to come." The eldest then explained to them the
text (Ps. lxviii. 22), "The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan; I
will bring again from the depths of the sea." "From Bashan," i.e., from
the teeth of the lion; "from the depths of the sea," i.e., those that
drown themselves in the sea. When the girls heard this explanation they
at once jumped all together into the sea, and the boys with alacrity
followed their example. It is with reference to these that Scripture
says (Ps. xliv. 22), "For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we
are counted as sheep for the slaughter."

_Gittin_, fol. 57, col. 2.

There were four hundred synagogues in the city of Byther, in each there
were four hundred elementary teachers, and each had four hundred pupils.
When the enemy entered the city they pierced him with their pointers;
but when at last the enemy overpowered them, he wrapped them in their
books and then set fire to them; and this is what is written (Lam. iii.
51), "Mine eye affecteth my heart because of all th