This literary awakening could not fail to act upon the priests. They were the custodians of those ancient religious and legal traditions, which, coming down from the age of Moses, had grown with, and been modified by, changing times and conditions. While some portions of the ‘law’ were written, presumably the larger part of it was handed down mainly by word of mouth. Moreover, that which was written probably existed in various independent codes relating to different subjects. Some of these--such as a tariff of offerings, or tables of civil and criminal law, like those contained in the _Book of the Covenant_--may have been published, or set up at the Temple gates, where they could be read by the worshippers. The greater part of the ‘law,’ however, seems to have been the exclusive, if not esoteric, possession of the priesthood of the Jerusalem Temple. The literary activity of the Renaissance made itself felt within the circle of the priests, leading them to begin to commit to writing their unwritten law as well as the ancient traditions, customs, and ceremonies. Thus was commenced the work which has given us the middle books of the _Pentateuch_, as well as much of Genesis and Joshua.”[15] It appears, therefore, as if the Hebrew literature of the time (the reign of Hezekiah, covering the period referred to, lasting from 728 to 699 B.C.) consisted substantially of the “law,” that is of the authoritative teachings of the “church,” and was almost exclusively in the hands of the priests. They exercised a control, which amounted practically to an ownership, over the sacred, that is the official, records of the “law,” and it appears as if the attested copies or transcripts could be made only with their permission and under their supervision. It is probable, therefore, that the copyists were attached to the Temple, and that such moneys as were received from the sale of their transcripts belonged to the treasury of the Temple,--but the manner of such sales can only be guessed at, as the records give us no information. If, however, this understanding of the practice should prove to be correct, we should have an example, if not of literary property, at least of a species of “copyright” control. The severe Jewish law, directing the penalty of death to be inflicted upon prophets speaking “false words,” or uttering as inspirations of their own, words which had originated with others, has been quoted as an early example of regulation of plagiarism, but it appears evident, says Rénouard,[16] that the crime here to be punished was not plagiarism but sacrilege, “_Vates mendax qui vaticinatur et quæ non audivit, et quæ ipsi non sunt dicta, ab hominibus est occidendus_.”[17] The utterance of the prophet Jeremiah (c. xxiii. v. 30) evidently refers to the same regulation. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER II. Greece.