CRESCENS

CBESCENS. — A companion of St. Paul in his final imprisonment, sent by him to Galatia (2 Ti 4'»), i.e. either to Asiatic Galatia, or possibly to Gaul. A late Western tradition treats him as the founder of the Churches of Vienne and of Mayence. His memory is honoured in the Roman Martyrology on June 27, in the Greels Menologion on May 30, and there he is treated as one of the seventy disciples, and a bishop of Chalcedon.

CRESCENTS. — SeeAMULETS, § 4, and Ohnamenib, § 3.

CRETE, CRETAN'S. — Crete, the modern Candia, is an island 60 miles S. of Greece proper, about ISO miles long, and varying in breadth from 30 t(j 7 miles, with mountains as high as 7000 feet. It is about equidistant from Europe, Asia, and Africa, and was inhabited from the earUest times of which we have any knowledge. The researches of Mr. Arthur J. Evans and others have revealed traces of a very ancient civilization, including an alphabet hitherto unknown. In historical times it was famed for its archers, who were valued in the armies of Europe. It was conquered by Rome in b.c. 67, and became, in conjunction with the district Cyrenaica on the N. of Africa, a Roman senatorial province, governed by a proconsul. Jews were early to be found there, and were very numerous. Some were present at Pentecost in the year of the crucifixion (Ac 2"). St. Paul's ship, on the voyage to Rome, sailed along the Cretan coast close in (Ac 27'), and came to Fair Havens near Lasea. These places were on the S. coast, which had few harbours.

The epithets which a native of the island, the poet Epimenides (flourished b.c. 600), flung at the Cretans, are quoted in a somewhat un-apostolio manner in the Epistle to Titus (1'*). Epimenides styled them 'always liars, evil beasts of prey, lazy gluttons.' Such vitupera-tion, though countenanced by others also, must not be taken too seriously. The ancients were much given to it, and it probably reveals as much of the natures of the persons who used it as of those to whom it was applied. Greeks in general are not, and were not. famous for truthfulness, for instance. When and by whom Christianity was planted in Crete cannot be said. It is probable that it was well established there in the 1st century. In the Epistle to Titus we find Titus introduced as having been left by St. Paul in charge of the churches. A. Souter.

CRIB is the modern manger (Lk 2'), which contained the fodder for oxen (Pr 14<), asses (Is 1'), and doubtless other live stock as well.

CRICKET.— Lv IV^ (AV 'beetle'). See Locust.

CRIME. — In 1611 the word 'crime' had not lost its early meaning of accusation^ whence Ac 25" 'the crime laid against him' (RV 'matter,' but in Ac 23^' the same Gr. word is translated 'charge' in both AV and RV). It is possible, that in Job 31" 'crime' is used in the more modern sense; elsewhere it means ' charge.'

CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS.— The term ' crimes' is here used loosely in the sense of punishable offences, including not merely crimes (.crimina) in the sense of breaches of the criminal law in the modern sense, and torts idelicla) or breaches of the civil law, but also those offences in the sphere of religion and worship to which definite penalties were attached. Within the limits of this article it is possible to present only a summary of the more important and typical punishable offences recognized in the various Hebrew law-codes. The latter, indicated by the usual symbols, are: (1) BC, the oldest code, known as the Book of the Covenant, Ex 20S2-23'', with which for convenience sake is joined the Decalogue of Ex 202-"; (2) D, the Deuteronomio Code, Dt 12-28; (3) H, the Holiness Code, Lv 17-26; and (4) P, the great collection of laws known as the Priests' Code, and comprising the rest of the legislative

CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS

material of the Pentateuch. In the case of P alone will it be necessary to name the books (Ex., Lv., or Nu.) to which reference is made.

The penal offences of the Pentateuch may be con-veniently grouped under the three heads of crimes against J", against society (including property), and against the individual.

1. A. Crimes against J", or offences in the sphere of religion and worship. — Although it is true that mis-demeanours of every kind were in the last resort offences against J", who was regarded as the only fountain of law and justice, it will be convenient to group under this head those belonging to the special sphere of religious belief and its outward expression in worship. Among these the first place must be given to the worship of heathen deities — condemned in the strongest terms in BC (from 20* onwards) and D — and of the heavenly bodies, D 17' (cf. 4"). The penalty is death under the ban (BC 2220, D 13i«- [see Ban]), or by stoning (D 17'). In-separable from this form of apostasy is the crime of idolatry, entailing the curse of God (D 27'=). Blas-phemy, or profanation of the Divine name, is forbidden in all the codes; the penalty is death by stoning (H 24™). The practice of magic, wizardry, and simUar black arts, exposes their adepts and those who resort to them to the same penalty (H 20^').

2. The punishment for doing 'any work on the Sabbath day ' is death, but only in the later legislation (Ex 3115 [probably H] 35^1 [P]; cf. the very late Haggadic section, Nu 15^"^-). For neglect of ordinances, to use a familiar phrase, such as failing to observe the fast of the Day of Atonement (H 23^9), or to keep the Passover (Nu 9" [P], an offender was Uable to be ' cut off from his people'; see below). This was also the punishment prescribed for a number of offences that may be grouped under the head of sacrilege, such as partaking of blood (Lv 7" [P]), and the unauthorized manufacture and use of the holy anointing oil (Ex SO'"- [P]).

3. B. Crimes against Society. — As the family, according to Hebrew ideas, was the unit of society, the crimes that mar the sanctities of family life may be taken first. Such pre-eminently was adultery, severely condemned in all the codes, the punishment for both parties being death (D 22^, H 20>»). In a case of seduc-tion the man was required to marry her whom he had wronged, if her father gave consent (BC 22i«'), paying the latter a 'dowry,' i.e. the usual purchase price (see Marriage), estimated in D 22^9 at 50 shekels of silver. On the other hand, the penalty for rape, if the victim was betrothed, was death (D 22f^^), as it was for un-natural crimes Uke sodomy (H IS^^ 20i3 ' thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind') and bestiality (BC 22", H 20'"). The marriage of near kin is forbidden in H 18'-'* under seventeen heads (see Mar-riage). Incest with a step-mother or a daughter-in-law was punishable by thedeath of both parties (H20"'), while for a man to marry ' a wife and her mother ' was a crime that could be expiated only by the death of all three, and that, as many hold (see below), by being burnt aUve ift>. v.'<). Ordinary prostitution is con-demned by H 192» (cf. D 22")— for a priest's daughter the punishment was even death by burning (219)— while the wide-spread heathen practice of establisliing reUgious prostitutes, male and female, at the local sanctu-aries is specially reprobated in D 23"'-, where the male prostitute is to be recognized under the inexact term 'sodomite,' and the contemptuous 'dog.'

4. To carry disrespectf or one's parents to the extent of smiting (BC 21"), or cursing them (BC 21", H 209), or even of showing persistent contumacy (D 21i"0), entailed the extreme penalty of death at the hands of the local authorities.

5. Everything that would tend to impair the im-partial and effective administration of justice is em-phatically condemned in the Hebrew codes, the giving and receiving of bribes, in particular, being forbidden

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