t                                                           1863                                                TACITUS

T

T (iē), the twentieth letter, is a Honvocal consonant. From its mode and place of articulation, the tongue touching the gum behind the teeth, it is classed as a voiceless dental or as a palatal, as in tie, it, note. T is silent in some words, as chasten. Unaccented ti before a vowel is sh, as in nation. T before diphthongal u (that of use) is tsh, as nature. T with h forms th, soft as in baths, though; hard as in bath thin. Th is t in Esther, phthisic, Thames, Thomas, thyme; and is silent in asthma, isthmus.

Tab'ernacle was the tent first raised by Moses in the desert as a sign of God's presence among the people. It was divided into the sanctuary proper, which formed the front part, and the holy of holies. A sort of court-yard, formed by curtains hung between columns, ran round the tabernacle. The entrance was toward the rising sun, and was shut in by another costly curtain, into which, as in the first covering, figures of cherubim were woven. The court was much larger on the eastern side, for here the people gathered to worship. Here also stood the altar, made of acacia wood, on which a fire was kept burning, and the brazen laver or basin. The sanctuary contained the gilded table holding the show-bread, the golden candlesticks and, in the center, the golden altar of incense, upon which the high priest burned incense morning and evening. In the holy of holies was kept the ark of the covenant, an acacia box gold-plated and gold-lined, in which were kept the two tables of the Ten Commandments. On top of the ark were the two cherubim, and between them the symbolical presence of Jehovah — the shechinah. Only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, did the high priest enter the holy of holies, while the sanctuary was the ordinary place of the priests, and the court that of the Lévites. The Lévites had charge of the tabernacle, carrying it from place to place on the march of the Israelites. The tabernacle was permanently set up in Shiloh, and was probably removed to Nob and thence tc Gibeon, from which Solomon seems to have carried it away that all the nation might worship at Jerusalem.

Ta'bor, a celebrated mountain of northern Palestine, rising from the plain of Esdraelon So a height of 1,000 feet, commands the widest and finest view in Palestine. It is thickly clad with forests of oak and other

trees. It was renowned from early times as the place of Christ's transfiguration, though it is now believed that at one time a city stood on its summit. In the times of the crusades Tabor was studded with churches and monasteries. Here Deborah and Barak summoned the warriors of Israel before the battle with Sisera; 10,000 Jews were slain near by in a battle against the Romans in 55 B. C. ; and at its foot Napoleon gained a great victory over the Turks.

Tabriz (tà-brĕz'), an old city of Persia, on Aji River, 40 miles from Lake Urumiah. A ditch and a brick-wall with seven gates surround the city. Water, a rare thing in the east, is plentiful. The fine ruin of the Blue Mosque is covered in part with ara-besqued, blue tiles. The citadel is a brick-building, whose walls have been cracked by earthquakes. The chief manufactures are leather, silk and gold- and silver-smithing. Tabriz is on a caravan-route, and is a city of business importance, doing a large trade with Russia. Tabriz, the ancient Tauris, became the capital of Armenia in 297 A. D. Zobeida, the wife of Haroun-al-Raschid, greatly enlarged it. It was sacked by Timur in 1392, and after being held by the Turkomans was taken by the Persians in 1500. The place has often been damaged by earthquakes, that of 1721 causing, it is said, the death of 80,000 persons. Population 200,000. See East-wick's Three Years in Persia.

Tacitus (tăs'ï-tŭs), Publius Cornelius, a Roman historian, was born probably about 55 A. D. He enjoyed the favor of Emperors Vespasian, Titus and Domitian, and married a daughter of Agricola (q. v.). He held several public offices, became known as an orator, and was a close friend of the younger Pliny, through the appointment of the two to carry on the prosecution of Marius. Eleven of his letters are addressed to Pliny. Tacitus probably lived for a time after Hadrian came to the throne. His Life of Agricola (A. D. 98) is one of the finest biographies ever written. His other works are Histories (104-110), Annals, Germany (98), and his Dialogue on Orators (A. D. 79), the first and least valuable of his writings. These histories rank among trusted sources of knowledge of the times of which they treat, and have given their author high rank among the world's historians. But Tacitus is not one of the authors in whom our confidence is increased by rereading.