clared that whosoever was guilty of adultery would be put to death. What, then, was to be done? It is against the principle of justice that any should be punished for an offence of which he is ignorant. Hence, in capital offences, our Sages, to mercy inclined, have laid it down that a man must be assumed to be ignorant of the guilt of the offence, unless it be proved that he had been solemnly warned of its gravity; and in our Law proof can only be given by two simultaneous witnesses. Hence it is impossible to obtain conviction for a woman who hath committed adultery, unless proof is given that she hath been previously warned by two persons at once. This can scarcely ever be. No Jewish woman in my time has ever been stoned as the Law commands for this sin. Some think that this is too great a leniency, and of evil result for the morality of the folk.
When I arrived at the hall of polished stones near the Temple, in which the Sanhedrim holds its sittings, the trial had nearly come to a conclusion. The inquiry had been made if any two credible wit-
