xvi. 12) divides the Ebionites into two classes according to their

acceptance or rejection of the virgin birth of Jesus, but says that all alike reject the Pauline epistles. This is confirmed by Eusebius, who adds that even those who admitted the virgin birth did not accept the pre-existence of Jesus as Logos and Sophia. They kept both the Jewish Sabbath and the Christian Lord's day, and held extreme millenarian ideas in which Jerusalem figured as the centre of the coming Messianic kingdom. Epiphanius with his customary confusion makes two separate sects, Ebionites and Nazarenes. Both names, however, refer to the same people[1] (the Jewish Christians of Syria), the latter going back to the designation of apostolic times (Acts xxiv. 5), and the former being the term usually applied to them in the ecclesiastical literature of the 2nd and 3rd centuries.

The origin of the Nazarenes or Ebionites as a distinct sect is very obscure, but may be dated with much likelihood from the edict of Hadrian which in 135 finally scattered the old church of Jerusalem. While Christians of the type of Aristo of Pella and Hegesippus, on the snapping of the old ties, were gradually assimilated to the great church outside, the more conservative section became more and more isolated and exclusive. "It may have been then that they called themselves the Poor Men, probably as claiming to be the true representatives of those who had been blessed in the Sermon on the Mount, but possibly adding to the name other associations." Out of touch with the main stream of the church they developed a new kind of pharisaism. Doctrinally they stood not so much for a theology as for a refusal of theology, and, rejecting the practical liberalism of Paul, became the natural heirs of those early Judaizers who had caused the apostle so much annoyance and trouble.

Though there is insufficient justification for dividing the Ebionites into two separate and distinct communities, labelled respectively Ebionites and Nazarenes, we have good evidence, not only that there were grades of Christological thought among them, but that a considerable section, at the end of the 2nd century and the beginning of the 3rd, exchanged their simple Judaistic creed for a strange blend of Essenism and Christianity. These are known as the Helxaites or Elchasaites, for they accepted as a revelation the "book of Elchasai," and one Alcibiades of Apamea undertook a mission to Rome about 220 to propagate its teaching. It was claimed that Christ, as an angel 96 miles high, accompanied by the Holy Spirit, as a female angel of the same stature, had given the revelation to Elchasai in the 3rd year of Trajan (A.D. 100), but the book was probably quite new in Alcibiades' time. It taught that Christ was an angel born of human parents, and had appeared both before (e.g. in Adam and Moses) and after this birth in Judea. His coming did not annul the Law, for he was merely a prophet and teacher; Paul was wrong and circumcision still necessary. Baptism must be repeated as a means of purification from sin, and proof against disease; the sinner immerses himself "in the name of the mighty and most high God," invoking the "seven witnesses" (sky, water, the holy spirits, the angels of prayer, oil, salt and earth), and pledging himself to amendment. Abstinence from flesh was also enjoined, and a good deal of astrological fancy was interwoven with the doctrinal and practical teaching. It is highly probable, too, that from these Essene Ebionites there issued the fantastical and widely read "Clementine" literature (_Homilies_ and _Recognitions_) of the 3rd century. Ebionite views lingered especially in the country east of the Jordan until they were absorbed by Islam in the 7th century.

In addition to the literature cited see R.C. Ottley, _The Doctrine of the Incarnation_, part iii. Sec. ii.; W. Moeller, _Hist. of the Christian Church_, i. 99; art. in Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopaedie_, s.v. "Ebioniten"; also CLEMENTINE LITERATURE.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] So A. Harnack, _Hist. of Dogma_, i. 301, and F.J.A. Hort, _Judaistic Christianity_, p. 199. Th. Zahn and J.B. Lightfoot ("St. Paul and the Three," in _Commentary on Galatians_) maintain the distinction.

EBNER-ESCHENBACH, MARIE, FREIFRAU VON (1830- ), Austrian novelist, was born at Zdislavic in Moravia, on the 13th of September 1830, the daughter of a Count Dubsky. She lost her mother in early infancy, but received a careful intellectual training from two stepmothers. In 1848 she married the Austrian captain, and subsequent field-marshal, Moritz von Ebner-Eschenbach, and resided first at Vienna, then at Klosterbruck, where her husband had a military charge, and after 1860 again at Vienna. The marriage was childless, and the talented wife sought consolation in literary work. In her endeavours she received assistance and encouragement from Franz Grillparzer and Freiherr von Muench-Bellinghausen. Her first essay was with the drama _Maria Stuart in Schottland_, which Philipp Eduard Devrient produced at the Karlsruhe theatre in 1860. After some other unsuccessful attempts in the field of drama, she found her true sphere in narrative. Commencing with _Die Prinzessin von Banalien_ (1872), she graphically depicts in _Bozena_ (Stuttgart, 1876, 4th ed. 1899) and _Das Gemeindekind_ (Berlin, 1887, 4th ed. 1900) the surroundings of her Moravian home, and in _Lotti, die Uhrmacherin_ (Berlin, 1883, 4th ed. 1900), _Zwei Comtessen_ (Berlin, 1885, 5th ed. 1898), _Unsuehnbar_ (1890, 5th ed. 1900) and _Glaubenslos?_ (1893) the life of the Austrian aristocracy in town and country. She also published _Neue Erzaehlungen_ (Berlin, 1881, 3rd ed. 1894), _Aphorismen_ (Berlin, 1880, 4th ed. 1895) and _Parabeln, Maerchen und Gedichte_ (2nd ed., Berlin, 1892). Frau von Ebner-Eschenbach's elegance of style, her incisive wit and masterly depiction of character give her a foremost place among the German women-writers of her time. On the occasion of her seventieth birthday the university of Vienna conferred upon her the degree of doctor of philosophy, _honoris causa_.

An edition of Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach's _Gesammelte Schriften_ began to appear in 1893 (Berlin). See A. Bettelheim, _Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach: biographische Blaetter_ (Berlin, 1900), and M. Necker, _Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, nach ihren Werken geschildert_ (Berlin, 1900).

EBOLI (anc. _Eburum_), a town of Campania, Italy, in the province of Salerno, from which it is 16 m. E. by rail, situated 470 ft. above sea-level, on the S. edge of the hills overlooking the valley of the Sele. Pop. (1901) 9642 (town), 12,423 (commune). The sacristy of St Francesco contains two 14th-century pictures, one by Roberto da Oderisio of Naples. The ancient Eburum was a Lucanian city, mentioned only by Pliny and in inscriptions, not far distant from the Campanian border. It lay above the Via Popillia, which followed the line taken by the modern railway. Some scanty remains of its ancient polygonal walls may still be seen. (T. As.)

EBONY (Gr. [Greek: ebenos]), the wood of various species of trees of the genus _Diospyros_ (natural order Ebenaceae), widely distributed in the tropical parts of the world. The best kinds are very heavy, are of a deep black, and consist of heart-wood only. On account of its colour, durability, hardness and susceptibility of polish, ebony is much used for cabinet work and inlaying, and for the manufacture of pianoforte-keys, knife-handles and turned articles. The best Indian and Ceylon ebony is furnished by _D. Ebenum_, a native of southern India and Ceylon, which grows in great abundance throughout the flat country west of Trincomalee. The tree is distinguished from others by the inferior width of its trunk, and its jet-black, charred-looking bark, beneath which the wood is perfectly white until the heart is reached. The wood is stated to excel that obtained from _D. reticulata_ of the Mauritius and all other varieties of ebony in the fineness and intensity of its dark colour. Although the centre of the tree alone is employed, reduced logs 1 to 3 ft. in diameter can readily be procured. Much of the East Indian ebony is yielded by the species _D. Melanoxylon_ (Coromandel ebony), a large tree attaining a height of 60 to 80 ft., and 8 to 10 ft. in circumference, with irregular rigid branches, and oblong or oblong-lanceolate leaves. The bark of the tree is astringent, and mixed with pepper is used in dysentery by the natives of India. The wood of _D. tomentosa_, a native of north Bengal, is black, hard and of great weight. _D. montana_, another Indian species, produces a yellowish-grey soft but durable wood. _D. quaesita_ is the tree from which is obtained the wood known in Ceylon by the name _Calamander_, derived by Pridham from the Sinhalee _kalumindrie_, black-flowing. Its closeness of grain, great hardness and fine hazel-brown colour, mottled and striped with black, render it a valuable material for veneering and furniture making. _D. Dendo_, a native of Angola, is a valuable timber tree, 25 to 35 ft. high, with a trunk 1 to 2 ft. in diameter. The heart-wood is very black and hard and is known as black ebony, also as billet-wood, and Gabun, Lagos, Calabar or Niger ebony. What is termed Jamaica or West Indian ebony, and also the green ebony of commerce, are produced by _Brya Ebenus_, a leguminous tree or shrub, having a trunk rarely more than 4 in. in diameter, flexible spiny branches, and orange-yellow, sweet-scented flowers. The heart-wood is rich dark brown in colour, heavier than water, exceedingly hard and capable of receiving a high polish.

From the book of Ezekiel (xxvii. 15) we learn that ebony was among the articles of merchandise brought to Tyre; and Herodotus states (iii. 97) that the Ethiopians every three years sent a tribute of 200 logs of it to Persia. Ebony was known to Virgil as a product of India (_Georg._ ii. 116), and was displayed by Pompey the Great in his Mithradatic triumph at Rome. By the ancients it was esteemed of equal value for durability with the cypress and cedar (see Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xii. 9, xvi. 79). According to Solinus (_Polyhistor_, cap. lv. p. 353, Paris, 1621), it was employed by the kings of India for sceptres and images, also, on account of its supposed antagonism to poison, for drinking-cups. The hardness and black colour of the wood appear to have given rise to the tradition related by Pausanias, and alluded to by Southey in _Thalaba_,