[733] _Diogen. Laert. in vitæ Cleanthis._
It is much controversed, whether the _Jews_ did from the beginning write with _vowels_ and _accents_, or whether they were added by the _Masorites_; for the understanding of which, it will be needful, _First_, to enquire who the _Masorites_ were: _Secondly_, what their work was; and then to deliver in a proposition what may be probably thought in this point.
First, concerning the _Masorites_, we are to know that מסר _Masar_ signifieth _tradere_, _to deliver_, and _Masor_ _a tradition_, delivered from hand to hand to posterity without writing, as the _Pythagoreans_ and _Druides_ were wont to do; but by the figure _Synecdoche_, it signifieth those _critical notes_ or _Scholion_, written in the margine of the Bible, and those that were the Authors of those _critical observations_ were termed _Masoritæ_, _Masorites_. Concerning these Authors, who they were there are two opinions. Some[736] think that they were certain learned _Jews_ living in the City _Tiberias_, they termed them _Sapientes Tiberiadis_, _the wise men of Tiberias_. These _wise men_ are thought to have added these _marginal notes_ unto the _Hebrew Bibles_[737] some time after the finishing of the _Babylon Talmud_, which was about the year of our _Lord_, 506. This opinion is unlikely for these two reasons. 1.[738] Because we cannot find in Histories, the continuance of any Colledg or School in _Tiberias_ so long, but rather that _degrees in learning_ ceased there within four hundred years after our _Saviour his birth_. 2.[739] In both _Talmuds_ mention is made of the _Masora_, and the things contained therein. Others therefore more probably say,[740] that the _Masorites_ were that _Ecclesiastical Senate_ or _Council_ held by _Esra, Haggai, Zachary, Malachi_, and divers others assembled for the reformation of the Church after their return from _Babylon_; they are called _Viri Synagogæ magnæ_. This _Council_ continued at least forty years: for _Simeon the just_, who went out in his _Priestly robes_, to meet and pacifie _Alexander the Great_, coming in hostile manner against _Jerusalem_,[741] was the last of that _Council_, and that was above three hundred years before the birth of our _Saviour_. _Esra_ was the _President_ or Chief of this _Council_; he was of such repute among the _Jews_, that they parallel’d him with _Moses_, saying,[742] _Dignus erat_ Esra, _quod data fuisset lex per manus ejus_ Israeli, _si non præcessisset eum_ Moses.