Rue

RUE, Rutha; a well-known Garden-herb. Jesus Christ reproaches the Phari-sees with their superstitious Affectation, of paying the Tythe of the Mint and Rue that grew in their Gardens, and which for this Reason was not in reality subject to the Law that injoin’d paying of Tythe. He did not blame, however, this scrupulous Exactness of theirs, which in the main had nothing of Evil in it; but he chiefly reproves them for the strict Observance of these Niceties, while at the same time they neglected the more essential Parts of the Law. Hæc¹ autem oportuit facere, & illa non omittere.

Mark xv. 21. Joseph. de Bello, l. 7. c. κε. p. 981. a.Josephus the Historian relates, that there was in the Castle of Maqueron, beyond Jordan, a Plant of Rue of such extraordinary Magnitude, that there was no Fig-tree that was equal to it, either in Height or Extent. ‘Twas said to have been in that Place ever since the Time of Herod the Great; that is, at least Seventy-three Years before the End of the Jewish War, at which time it perished.

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