that if all the winds in the world come and blow upon it, it remains
firm in its place." Man, according to Akiba, is master of his own
destiny; he needs God's grace to triumph over evil, yet the triumph
depends on his own efforts: "Everything is seen, yet freedom of choice
is given; the world is judged by grace, yet all is according to the
work." The Torah, the literature of Israel, was to Akiba "a desirable
instrument," a means to life.

Among the distinctions of Akiba's school must be named the first literal
translation of the Bible into Greek. This work was done towards the
close of the second century by Aquila, a proselyte, who was inspired by
Akiba's teaching. Aquila's version was inferior to the Alexandrian Greek
version, called the Septuagint, in graces of style, but was superior in
accuracy. Aquila followed the Hebrew text word by word. This translator
is identical with Onkelos, to whom in later centuries the Aramaic
translation (_Targum_ Onkelos) of the Pentateuch was ascribed. Aramaic
versions of the Bible were made at a very early period, and the Targum
Onkelos may contain ancient elements, but in its present form it is not
earlier than the fifth century.

Meir, whom we take as representative of the third generation of Tannaim,
was filled with the widest sympathies. In his conception of truth,
everything that men can know belonged to the Torah. Not that the Torah
superseded or absorbed all other knowledge, but that the Torah needed,
for its right study, all the aids which science and secular information
could supply. In this way Jewish literature was to some extent saved
from the danger of becoming a merely religious exercise, and in later
centuries, when the mass of Jews were disposed to despise and even
discourage scientific and philosophical culture, a minority was always
prepared to resist this tendency and, on the ground of the views of some