the general name Ebionites a good many varieties of opinion are included ; and that their opinions varied at different periods of their history. The term Ebionites is used by some writers to include the Nazarenes, who, while recognizing the binding obligation of the Mosaic law on all Jews, did not regard it as binding on heathen Christians (see Nazarenes); but at an early period the stricter Ebionites must have separated themselves from the Nazarenes, who soon became merged in the general church. Of Ebionites proper Origen distinguishes two classes those who affirm and those who deny the miraculous birth of Jesus : and in this he is followed by Eusebius. The extreme Ebionites, according to Origen, were only distinguishable from common Jews by the acceptance of the moral teaching of Christ ; while those Ebionites who admitted the miraculous birth of Christ did not recognize His divinity proper, but believed that with His human nature the spirit of an angel or archangel, or even of Adam, was incorporated. Both classes of Ebionites seem to have had these points in common : 1st, They emphasized the unity of God ; 2d, they affirmed the universal obligation of the Mosaic economy ; 3d, of the books of the New Testament they received as genuine only the gospel of St Matthew; 4th, they denounced St Paul as a separatist ; and 5th, they believed that Jerusalem was yet to be the city of God, and some of them at least believed in Christ s millennial reign. In the time of Eusebius the Ebionites inhabited chiefly the coasts of the Dead Sea, but they dwelt also in Rome and Cyprus. They vanished
from history in the end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century.
The ancient authorities on the Ebionites are Irenanis, Hyp- polytus, Eusebius, Tertullian, Origen, and Theodoret. In modern literature there are Gieseler, in Stdudlin und Tzschirncr s Archiv fiir altere und neuere Kirchengeschichte, vol. ii. Leipsic, 1820 ; (Jredner in Winer s Zeitschrift fur wissenschaftl. Theologie, Sulzbach, 1829 ; Baur, De Ebionitarum origine ct doctrina ab Essaeis repetenda (Tubinger Oaterproyramm von 1831) ; Hilgenfeld, Die Clementinischcn JRecognitionen, Jena, 1848 ; the article " Ebjoniten" in Herzog s Real Encyclopddie ; and Mansel s Gnostic Heresies of the First and Second Centuries, London, 1875.
EBOLI, or Evoli, a town of Italy, in the province of Frincipato Citeriore and district of Campagna, situated about thirteen miles from Salerno, on an elevated site commanding a fine prospect over land and sea. It has an ancient castle belonging to the princes of Angri, and its church of St Francis of Assisi contains a curious picture of the Crucifixion by Eoberto di Oderisio. Between the town and the Silarus or Sele are the ruins of the ancient Ebiiri, a place of municipal rank; and the river is still spanned by a bridge of fine Roman construction. Population, 8947.
EBONY (e/3evos), the wood of various species of trees of the genus Diospyros and natural order JEbenacece, found in the tropical parts of Asia and America. 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. Ceylon ebony is furnished by 1). Ebenum, 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 (See Baker, Eight Years Wanderings in Ceylon, p. 293, 1855). The wood is stated by Sir J. E. Tenneut to excel that obtained from D. recticulata of the Mauritius and all other varieties of ebony in the fineness and intensity of its dark colour. Although the centre of the trees alone is employed, reduced logs 1 to 3 feet in diameter can readily be procured. Much of the East Indian ebony is yielded by the species D. Melanoxylon, a large tree 8 to 10 feet in cir cumference, with irregular rigid branches ; oblong or oblong-lanceolate, entire leaves ; white flowers, having a 5- cleft calyx ; and a round, pulpy berry, containing 2-8 seeds. The bark of the tree is astringent, and mixed with pepper is used in dysentery by the natives of India. The wood of D. Ebenaster, the species called by the Singhalese Cadooberia, is black, with rich brown stripes ; it is not so durable and heavy as the true ebonies. That of D. tomentosa, a native of North Bengal, is black, hard, and of great weight. D. montana, another Indian species, pro duces a dark wood, variegated with white-coloured veins. D. qucesita is the tree from which is obtained the wood known in Ceylon by the name Ccdamander, derived by Pridhani from the Singhalee kalu-mindrie, 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. Cochin- China ebony is believed to be the wood of a species of Maba, a genus of Ebenacece. What is termed Jamaica or West Indian ebony and probably also the green ebony of commerce are produced by Brya, Ebenus, a leguminous tree or shrub, having a trunk rarely more than 4 inches in diameter, flexible spiny branches, and orange-yellow, sweet- scented flowers. The wood is greenish-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 (Geor., ii. 116), and was displayed by Pompey the Great in his Mithridatic triumph at Rome. By the ancients it was esteemed of equal value for durability with the cypress and cedar (see Pliny, Nat. Jlist., xii. 9, xvi. 79). According to Solinus (Polyhistor, cap. Iv. 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 Pausanius, and alluded to by Southey in Thalaba, i. 22, that the ebony tree produced neither leaves nor fruit, and was never seen exposed to the sun.
EBRO (in Latin IberiiK), the principal river of Spain, rises in the Cantabrian Mountains, near Reinosa, in the province of Santander, flows in a general south-east direction through Old Castile, Navarre, Aragon, and Catalonia, and falls into the Mediterranean about 80 miles south-west of Barcelona, in 40 41 N. lat. and 50 E. long., forming by its delta a very considerable excrescence on the otherwise regular outline of the coast. It has a total length of about 340 miles, and its drainage area is calculated at 31,445 square miles. Already a noble stream when it breaks through the pass of Horadada, it becomes navigable about Tudela ; but its value as a means of communication is almost neutralized by the obstacles in its channel, and sea faring vessels cannot proceed further up than Tortosa. The great Imperial Canal, commenced by the emperor Charles V., proceeds along the right bank of the river from a point about three miles below Tudela, to the monastery of Monte Terero, five miles below Saragossa ; and the San Carlos Canal affords direct communication between Amposta at the head of the delta and the harbour of Los Alfaques. The principal tributaries of the Ebro are from the right hand the Jalon with its affluent the Jiloca, the Huerva, the Aguas, the Martin, and the Guadalope ; from the left the Aragon, the Gallago, and the Segre with its elaborate system of confluent rivers.
