Besides Jochanan, who was the most influential and the chief personage of his time, there was a group of teachers of the Law. They were all at an advanced age at the period of the destruction of the State, and were without doubt members of the Jamnian Synhedrion. Most of them, of whom nothing important is recorded, are known only by name. Among these were Chanina, the deputy of various High Priests (_Segan ha-Cohanim_), who has preserved for us traditions from the time of the Temple. He belonged to the lovers of peace, and exhorted his contemporaries to pray for the well-being of the ruling power (that of the Romans), "for, if no fear thereof existed, then one man would swallow another alive." Zadok, another teacher, was a disciple of Shammai, and in anticipation of the fall of the Temple he fasted for forty years, whereby he ruined his health. Nachum, the Mede, who had been previously member of a college of the Law in Jerusalem, Dossa ben Archinas, with his brother Jonathan, the latter a clear-headed and argumentative youth, and Abba Saul must also be mentioned. Lastly, there belonged to this circle Nachum of Gimso (Emmaus), and Nechunya ben Hakana. The first has been recorded by tradition as the hero of strange adventures, and even the name of his birthplace Gimso has been explained, so as to put into his mouth the words "This also is for good" (Gam-su-l'-toba). He is represented in the world of legend as a scholar to whom many disagreeable experiences happened, all of which proved of good to him. Nachum developed a special mode of teaching, which consisted in explaining the oral law from the written text, according to certain particles which the lawgiver had purposely used as indications when drawing up the Law. These particles, according to his idea, not only served as syntactical signs in the sentences, but as signs for enlarging and diminishing the circle within which each law should work. Nachum's rules formed a new and fruitful addition to those laid down by Hillel; they were carefully cultivated and developed, and received the name "the rules of extension or exclusion" (Ribbuj-u-m'ut). Nechunya ben Hakana was, however, an opponent of Nachum's system; he approved only the explanatory rules as propounded by Hillel.