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captivity
of knowing who was what,
because they all yelled and
swore in Greek. It is true that
block and tackle devices had
been introduced on the docks,
but the bulk of freight handling
nevertheless proceeded by
hand. Baleswereunloadedand
lugged to be swallowed by the
enormous city without a trace
and then discharged into the
sewers, which likewise flowed
into the Tiber. No wonder the
Jews took care not to drink
from it, and, as for washing,
they never washed in it, and
during epidemics the dockers
were segregated.
Infectious diseases were
diagnosed in Palestine
according a well -known
formula: if on three successive
days, three corpses out of
community of five hundred
werecarriedoff three separate
times, then it was the plague.
If it was fewer, then it was not
the plague, and there was no
need to impose quarantine.
At times like that, the poor
in some congregations would
deny they had corpses, so
that breadwinners could
keep working, and only later
would they report a death.
The archisynagogoses took
a strong stance against this,
as did Levites, who were
well-paid experts at burial.
An uproar would arise over
this every other day or so, as
would be expected anywhere
that persons lived surrounded
by other persons, bound
together.
Joseph made one last try to
obtain a man’s work for his
son.
The post of grammateus
had fallen vacant in their
community.
The grammateus was a scribe,
a notary and secretary, the
archisynagogos’s right-hand
man, a man of influence,