HILLARD, GEORGE STILLMAN, LL.D., b. Me., 1808; graduated at Harvard, 1S28; was assistant of George Bancroft in a seminary at Northampton, Mass.; in 1833 became a member of the bar in Boston, and soon acquired a large practice. He was chief ocer of the Boston common council; a member of the state legislature and of the serrate, and in 1867 U. S. district attorney. In connection with George Ripley, he was, in 1833, editor of the Christian Regiqtcr, a Unitarian paper. Subsequently he turned his mien. tion to literary work and to lecturing. In 1853 he traveled in Europe, and on his return published Six Months in Italy, which has passed through many editions, and is still a standard work of its class. He was afterwards a regular contributor to the Boston Courier, and wrote a number of biographical works.
HartAnm (the Babylonian), or BAZAKEN (the elder), one of the most emi nent and influential doctors of the Jewish law, was b. about 112 rt.c. in Babylonia, of poor parents, but in the female line of royal (Davidiani descent. Forty years the legend runs—he migrated into Palestine for the sake of studying the law; and of the small sum he earned by hard manual labor, he gave half to the door-keeper of the academy, where Shemaja and Abtalion, the great masters of the period, expounded the Halacha (q.v.); and before long he became one of the favorite and foremost pupils of Abtalion. Five or six years (Sabb. 15 a.) after Herod had mounted the throne, Hillel was elected Nasi, or president of the Sanhedrin). The range of his acquirements is said to have been immense; embracing not only Scripture and tradition, but nearly all branches of human and "miperhunian." knowledge. Yet he was one of time meekest, most modest, kind, and simple-hearted men. "Be of the pupils of Aaron, a friend of peace, a promoter of peace, loving mankind, and bringing them nearer to the divine law" (Almon', i. 2). "Do not confide in thyself, Until the day of thy death" (Aboth, ii. 3).
" Do not judge thy neighbor, until thou bast been in his place thyself " (Abotii, ii. 5). Such were some of his most favorite sayingsl Still more characteristic, and highly curious, if compared with Matt. vii. 12, is the answer he gave to a heathen who, in a spirit of mockery, requested him to teach him "all the law of Moses" while he could stand on one leg. " Do not unto others as thou wouldst not have others do unto thee," Hillel replied; "that is all the law; the rest is mere comment" (Babyl. Tale. Shabb. 31 a.). Hillel was also the first who collected the numberless traditions of the oral law, and arranged them under six heads (see MuutNA). Time often alluded to and highly exaggerated dispute between Hillel and his school and Shammai (q.v.), the contempo raneous supreme judge of the Sanhedrim and his school, resolves itself into a mere theoretical one: the decisions themselves are, with a very few and unim portant exceptions, identical. Mlle], however, was the more popular of the two, and the majority was, on account of the better authorities he was able to quote in his sup port, generally on his side.
The time of Hillel's death is uncertain. He is said to have lived, like Moses, 120 years: 40 years in ignorance of the law, 40 years as the humblest pUpil of the law, and 40 years as the highest master of the law. A verse of the dirge composed at his death has survived: "Woe for the pious, the modest, the disciple of Ezra" (Sanh.11 a.). For the further influence of his house and school, see GAMALIEL and TALMUD.