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Some think that the words of Saint Jerome, which he wrote on Isaiah chapter 8, satisfy this question abundantly. They are these:
The Nazaraeans, who receive Christ in such a way that they do not lose the observances of the old law, interpret the two houses as two families, Sammai and Hillel, from whom arose the scribes and Pharisees, whose school Akibas received, whom they say was the teacher of Aquila the proselyte,
[margin: Saint Jerome’s words.]
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and after him Meir; Johannan son of Zachai succeeded him, and after him Eliezer, and then in order Delphon, and again Joseph the Galilean, and, as far as the captivity of Jerusalem, Joshua. Sammai, therefore, and Hillel arose in Judea not long before the Lord was born; the former is interpreted as “destroyer,” the latter as “profane,” because through their traditions and deuteroses they scattered and stained the commandments of the law.
But in these words two things must be noted. First, Akibas could not have been the teacher of Aquila the proselyte. For that proselyte lived in the time of Hadrian, and translated the Old Testament into the Greek language, as Saint Epiphanius writes in the book On Weights and Measures. But Akibas lived before the thrice-saving death of Christ the Lord, as Saint Jerome indicates in that passage, and Saint Epiphanius in heresies 15 and 33; and in heresy 42, that of the Marcionites, he expressly notes that Akibas lived even before the Babylonian captivity. If Jerome had meant Aquila Onkelos, who expounded the Pentateuch in a Chaldean paraphrase, that would be considerably more tolerable.
Second, when Saint Jerome says that the Pharisees and scribes arose from Hillel and Sammai, this must not be taken of their first origin, but of the later origin, which is better known, on account of which
[margin: Two things to note in Jerome’s words, 1-2.]
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they increased more, and were separated from one another by a great distinction, as will appear a little later. For another, earlier origin will be indicated. And Genebrard, in book 2 of the Chronology, when presenting those words of Saint Jerome, adds in parentheses that they rather received increase from Schammai and Hillel.
Therefore the Jews themselves report not one author of the Pharisees but several: all the men of the Great Synagogue, with respect to the first beginning of the sect, and two outstanding rabbis, of whom above and also below, with respect to its greater progress. For they say that Moses on Mount Sinai received not only the written law, but also its understanding, and that which, as I have already said above, is called behal pi, that is, what is handed down orally. They say that he handed this to Joshua; that Joshua handed it to the elders who followed him; that these handed it to the prophets; and that the prophets handed it to the men of the Great Synagogue.
These men are said to have founded two distinguished schools or academies of wisdom: one in Babylonia, on the Euphrates, at Nehardea; the other at Jerusalem, through those who returned from the Babylonian captivity. From these workshops of wisdom very many wise men arose.
The men of the Great Synagogue, counted as their chief figures after the return from Babylon, are Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel; Jesus; Nehemiah; Seraiah; Raabiah; Mordecai; Balsan; Maspar; Bagoas; Rahum; Baanas. After these, and from those still remaining from their number, in the time of Alexander
[margin: Answer to the question. Twofold author and origin of the Pharisees. Two Jewish academies.]
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the Great, there was Simeon, surnamed Justus, otherwise Jaddus, son of Joshua and grandson of Josedec the high priest. His disciple Antignus, or, as some name him, Antigonus, followed him, a man of Socho. Four disciples of this man are remembered: the two Joses, and Sadoc with his colleague Baietos. But I shall speak later of these latter two under the Sadducees.
Of the two former men, one Jose was the son of a certain Johezer, a man of Tseredah; the other Jose was the son of Johannan and a Jerusalemite. Their disciples were Joshua son of Perachiah and Nithai the Arbelite. Their disciples in turn were Judas son of Tabeai and Simon son of Satachi. Afterward their disciples were Schemaias and Abtalion, most just proselytes. Their disciples were those from whom Saint Jerome above began: Hillel and Schammai. The former of these is interpreted by the same Saint Jerome as “profane,” the latter as “destroyer”; but by others the former is interpreted as “praised,” and the latter as “heavenly.” Hence it also seems to some that the former is called Pollion by Josephus, book 15, chapter 13, and the latter Sameas.
The Nazaraeans rightly note in the cited passage of Saint Jerome that a certain division was made between these men. For even today among the Jews there are celebrated בית שמאי בית הלל, the house of Hillel and the house of Schammai. But that this division was good, holy, and made in the name of the Lord is clear from chapter 5 of the tract Pirke Aboth, where this saying occurs: “Every dispute that is for the sake of
[margin: The two most learned families of the Jews.]
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God will endure to the end; but one that is not for the sake of God will not endure to the end. What is the dispute that is for the sake of God? The dispute of Hillel and Schammai. But the one that was not for the sake of God is the dispute of Korah and his whole company.”
Rabbi Abraham Levi says that Hillel was of the stock of David, that he lived 120 years, that at the age of forty he came from Babylon into the Holy Land, and that he taught there for forty years. His disciples are said to have been eighty in number, outstanding in ability and doctrine. The rabbis say that thirty of them were worthy that divinity should descend upon them as upon Moses; that thirty were such that, on their account, the sun would stand immobile, as for Joshua; and that the remaining twenty were of a more ordinary kind. The chief of all was Jonathan son of Uzziel; the least of all was Rabbi Iochan, or John, son of Zaccai, in whose time Rabbi Abraham says Vespasian lived.
Among these was Gamaliel the elder, whose son was Simeon, who was killed in the destruction of the city with Rabbi Ishmael son of Eliseus. The son of this Simeon was Judah Nagid, or Rabbenu Hakkados, or Judah Hannasi, that is, the prince in Pirke Aboth chapter 3. His son was Rabbi Gamaliel the second, whose sayings are read in chapter 2 of Pirke Aboth. These things are drawn almost entirely from that book, and from Rabbi Moses of Kotzi, in the preface to the book of precepts, and from Rabbi Abraham in the history of the Kabbalah; but I have preferred to follow the order of the first chapter of Pirke Aboth, which Rabbi Abraham follows, if at any point they differ,
(printed p. 129)
because that book is more certain and of greater authority. They differ only moderately, just as both also differ from Saint Jerome on Isaiah chapter 8. For Rabbi Akibas is omitted by these writers, although he seems to have been among those eighty disciples of Hillel discussed above. Rabbi Meir is likewise missing, perhaps the Meir of chapter 3 of Pirke Aboth; also Rabbi Delphon, about whom I find nothing anywhere; and Rabbi Joshua, although after the destruction Rabbi Tarphon and another Rabbi Akiba are named. If it is useful, see also what Galatinus, book 1, chapter 2; Genebrard, book 2 of the Chronology; Capnion, book 1 of the Kabbalah; Mercerus, in the book on Hebrew abbreviations; and others have written on these matters.