Owing to his profound learning, his acuteness of intellect, and his estimable character, Judah enjoyed undisputed authority both in Babylonia and abroad. When Huna died Judah was chosen by the Sora Metibta as their Principal (297); under him and his successor there was but a single academy which was recognized by every one. His authority was recognized even in Judæa. He once excommunicated a certain distinguished member of the Metibta whose reputation was attacked. When the latter visited him on the occasion of his last illness, he openly stated that he was proud of having spared not even such a man out of regard for his position. As Judah died without having raised the ban, it was necessary to appeal to the Patriarch, in accordance with the custom which obtained in such cases. Judah had only held the office of general Resh-Metibta for two years when he died at a ripe old age.
The college elected in Judah's place the octogenarian, Chasda of Cafri (born 217, died 309). He was one of Rab's disciples, and entertained so great a reverence for his teacher that he committed to memory all the decisions which the latter had ever given, and promised a reward to any one who would communicate to him any unknown trait of "our great master," as he called him. Chasda is known as the most fortunate of the Amoraïm. Originally poor, he was afterwards blessed with such extraordinary gifts of fortune that his wealth became proverbial. Sixty marriages were celebrated in his house, and it is said that no member of his family died during his lifetime. Although he had attended Huna's discourses, his method of instruction rather resembled that employed by Judah; he was extremely fond of acute explanations. Chasda's superiority over Huna, which he caused the latter to feel on one occasion, contributed to the creation of an estrangement between the two, which, it is said, lasted for forty years. In consequence of this difference Chasda appears to have withdrawn from Sora to the neighboring town of Cafri, but there he felt isolated and slighted. Once when the college of Sora appealed to him for his opinion of some dubious case, he took offense and exclaimed: "What! do you even pick up damp wood? Probably you expect to find a treasure beneath it." While Huna still held the post of Principal, Chasda erected a school in Sora at his own expense (293), but he still retained the position of disciple with regard to the former, and gave no decisions in practice. It was not until Judah's death that he was appointed Principal of the college; he held this office for ten years, and died in 309 at the age of ninety-two.
His Halachic opponent was Mar-Sheshet, who like himself had been a disciple of Rab and a pupil of Huna. Sheshet's memory was so retentive that he knew by heart not only the whole Mishna, but also all the Boraïtas. Whenever Chasda and Sheshet met, the former was dismayed at his opponent's imposing array of Boraïtas, while the latter trembled at Chasda's subtle expositions. He was, in fact, a sworn enemy of that hair-splitting style of teaching which Judah had introduced into the Pumbedithan school, and which had quickly degenerated into mere subtilty. Whenever a person started any specious objection, Sheshet would ironically inquire: "Comest thou not from Pumbeditha, where they can pass an elephant through the eye of a needle?" Sheshet's relations with the Resh-Galuta of this period afford a striking proof of the neglect into which religious practices had fallen in the house of the Prince of the Captivity, and of the uncouth barbarity which still continued to rule there. Whenever the Resh-Galuta invited Sheshet to partake of his hospitality he was met by a repeated refusal. Upon being urged to explain the cause of this incivility, Sheshet answered that the slaves of the Resh-Galuta had not yet abandoned the custom of cutting the meat that was to be served in the banquet from living animals. Although the Prince of the Captivity may have been ignorant of this barbarous habit of his servants, it is nevertheless apparent that he paid no great attention to the religious conduct of his household. It was not unusual for the slaves of the Prince of the Captivity to indulge in practical jokes at the expense of the teachers of the Law who visited their master, often shutting them up in the dungeons. Nothing further is known of Sheshet, except that after the destruction of Nahardea he founded a school at Silhi on the Tigris.
The youngest member of this circle of the Amoraim was Nachman ben Jacob, one of Samuel's disciples (born about 235, died 324). He was the representative of that haughty self-reliance of the Babylonian Jews, which was founded upon their prosperity, their independence, and the certainty of a livelihood. He was a son-in-law of the Prince of the Captivity, whose daughter, Yalta, he had married after the death of her first husband, and he possessed to the full the pride, ostentation, and arrogance characteristic of the princely house. Like any oriental prince, he was attended by eunuchs, ready at a moment's notice to make their master's exalted position felt by any one who should dare depreciate his reputation. He had been appointed chief judge by his father-in-law, and was so proud of this dignity, that when his colleagues attempted to place themselves on an equality with him, he forcibly reminded them that he alone was competent to act as judge. He even did not hesitate to decide many cases without the assistance of his colleagues, although it was considered an arrogant act to sit in judgment alone. His character was devoid of gentleness and humanity. Once when the slaves of the Resh-Galuta had forcibly dispossessed an old woman of some building materials, in order to erect a tabernacle therewith, he was appealed to by the latter to award her redress for this violation of the Law: "The Prince of the Captivity and his doctors," said she, "are sitting in a stolen tabernacle." Nachman, however, scarcely listened to her; whereupon she pointedly exclaimed, "I am the daughter of a man (Abraham) who possessed 318 slaves, and cannot even find a hearing for my complaint!" To this remark Nachman returned a harsh answer, and finally decreed that at most she was only entitled to compensation for the stolen materials. He was even less considerate in his treatment of his slaves, whose sense of human dignity he outraged in a manner revolting to morality. His female slaves were not permitted to contract any lasting union, but were given in turn to different men, according as such changes were considered to afford a better chance of profit. In this he was entirely unlike his master, Samuel, who united his male and female slaves in lawful wedlock for life.
Even the teachers of the Law were treated by Nachman with imperiousness and disdain. His wife, Yalta, the daughter of the Prince of the Captivity, had, contrary to custom, committed her child by her first husband to the custody of a nurse, so as to be able to marry Nachman. She even exceeded her husband in pride, and possessed all the whims and insolence of a petty oriental princess. She exacted homage of the learned men with whom her husband associated; and when, on one occasion, Ulla withheld his respects, she insulted him of set purpose. He was in the habit of making frequent journeys between Palestine and Babylonia, and was probably also poor. It was with reference to these two points that Yalta observed of him, "Travelers are full of twaddle, and rags of vermin."
Jewish jurisprudence is indebted to Nachman for an important decision, the account of the origin of which affords some indication as to the state of morality at this period. According to the principles of the old Jewish code, when a person was summoned before the court to answer for a debt, and insufficient evidence was forthcoming against him, he was only allowed to purge the charge by an oath, if he partially admitted the claim; if he repudiated it altogether, no oath could be administered. This law was based upon the assumption that every one was actuated by motives of patriarchal probity, which rendered them incapable of the audacity of openly repudiating a just claim. But this simple honesty could no longer be assumed to exist; on the contrary, it had been supplanted by a certain wily cunning, which succeeded, by reason of the wide-spread knowledge of the Law, in availing itself of the letter in order to evade the spirit. It was for this reason that Nachman, profiting by experience, introduced the oath of purgation (Shebuot hesset) in those cases where the claim was totally denied, and this decision eventually obtained the force of law. As has already been mentioned, Nachman emigrated from Nahardea after its destruction, and established himself in Shakan-Zib, the inhabitants of which were notorious for their love of mockery. It is not related whether he again transferred his residence to Nahardea, after that city was restored.
A connecting link between Judæa and Babylonia, of which two countries the former was slowly declining while the latter was gradually coming to the fore, was formed by Zeïra, who was the highest authority in Judæa during the following generation. The history of this man brings into prominent relief the opposition existing between the mother-country and the Babylonian colony. He had been a pupil of Huna and Judah, but was dissatisfied with the method of teaching employed in Babylonia, and yearned for the simple method of the Amoraïm, which obtained in the schools of Galilee. He hesitated to quit Babylonia, however, in deference to Judah's dislike of emigration. When, at last, he stole away, so to speak, from his native country, his longing to behold the Holy Land was so irresistible, that he ventured to cross the Jordan by a rope, so as not to lose time in searching for a bridge. A Christian who was witness of the traveler's haste, remarked reprovingly to Zeïra: "You Jews have not yet abandoned your old fault of precipitancy, which showed itself among you at Mount Sinai"; whereupon the latter rejoined: "Ought I to delay a single moment to enter the Holy Land, the sight of which was not even vouchsafed to Moses and Aaron, our teachers?"
Arrived at Tiberias, Zeïra endeavored to forget the minute analysis which constituted the Babylonian method of teaching. The legend adds that he fasted for forty days, in order to give weight to his prayers, in which he entreated that the hateful Babylonian system might vanish entirely from his memory. Judæa and its peculiar method, on the other hand, seemed to him to be surrounded with a halo of glory, and "the atmosphere of the Holy Land appeared to him pregnant with wisdom." The characteristic tendency of Babylonia, however, had gained so strong a hold on his mind that he was unable to free himself from it, even in Judæa. However greatly he strove to acquire the simplicity of the Judæan method, he never succeeded in entirely eradicating the influence of the Babylonian rational analysis, and it was on account of this very superiority which he himself failed to recognize, that he was held in high esteem by the Amoraïm of Judæa. The dignity of teacher was conferred upon him within a very short time. His modesty was so great, however, that, like King Saul, he hid himself, and only consented to be ordained when it was represented to him that remission of sins was attached thereto. In the encomium which it had become customary to recite on the occasion of an ordination, allusion was made to Zeïra's small, insignificant figure, in the following terms: "Without brilliancy, without glitter, but not without charm." He became one of the authorities of Judæa, together with Ami, Assi, and Abbahu, all of whom he outlived. At his grave a poet recited an elegy, which shows better taste than most of the verses produced on similar occasions; it ran somewhat as follows:—
"To him whom fruitful Sinear hath borne,
The Holy Land a crown of wisdom lent;
And sad Tiberias droops her head, to mourn
For him who was her chiefest ornament."