After the completion of the Talmud, the work of the Academies became preservative rather than creative. While not adding to the laws now gathered in the Talmud, the rabbis reviewed them and formulated from them complete codes for practical application. This tended to give a finality to the laws so far evolved, which had both its good and bad side. This undertaking gave to this next school of commentators the name of _Saboräim_--revisers or critics--the third group of law expounders. (For first group, _Tannäim_, see p. 186; for second group, _Amoräim_, see page 228). They edited the Talmud and amplified it with _agadistic_ material and finally brought it down into the form in which we have it to-day. NOTES AND REFERENCES. _Language of the Talmud_: The Mishna is written in Hebrew, and so too are some of the older quotations in the Gemara. Many Greek words are adopted, of which _Sanhedrin_ is one; some Latin words too. But the bulk of both Gemaras is written in a dialect of Aramaic--we might say Jüdisch-Aramaic just as we speak of Jüdisch-Deutsch to-day. * * * * * A knowledge of grammar was brought to Persia (Babylonia) from Greece, which resulted in the important service of introducing vowel points and accents. This tended to simplify the study of Hebrew Scriptures and made the text more certain. _Ethics of Talmud_: The ethics of the Talmud have been touched upon incidentally in preceding chapters, and at length in the two following. For a systematic treatment, read Part iv., Outlines of Talmudic Ethics, in Mielziner's _Introduction to the Talmud_. See also _Ethics of Judaism_, Lazarus (translation), J. P. S. A. Read "On the Study of the Talmud," _Studies in Judaism_, S. Schechter, J. P. S. A. 1908, for rabbinic parallels with New Testament teachings. _The Law of the Talmud_: In a note on the Mishna it was pointed out that it was free from some defects of Roman law. This does not exclude the fact that the rabbinic _halacha_ was largely indebted to Roman law. On this Darmesteter says: "Certain departments of legislation, such as the laws on slavery and prescription ... are almost entirely inspired by Roman legislation. But all they borrow takes on modifications under the manipulation of the rabbis. The Jewish mind transformed the alien elements by impressing upon them its peculiar character. And from this vast crucible in which three centuries had melted down materials of diverse origin gathered by the schools, was to emerge the essentially uniform and homogeneous work of Talmudic legislation."--_The Talmud_, translated by Henrietta Szold, J. P. S. A. _Themes for Discussion_: (a) Compare Bible and Talmud as literatures. (b) In what sense can it be said that "the Talmud made the Jew?" CHAPTER XXXVI. SAYINGS AND STORIES OF THE SAGES OF THE TALMUD. "Let me make the ballads of a people and I care not who makes the laws."