The Tessera Hospitalis.

The formula " Salve Hospes " was ever in use until the Roman Empire fell , and the old Latin tessera and the Greek " kalame , " which answers to the Latin tessera , were kept up long after , and were probably used by the Masonic guilds . We conclude this paper with a quotation from Mackey ' s very valuable work on the same subject : —

Marks or pledges of this kind were of fi-equenfc use among the ancients , under the name of tessera hospitalis and " arrhabo . " The nature of the tessera hospitalis , or , as the Greeks called it , sumbolon , cannot be better described than in the words of the Scholiast on the Medea of Euripides , v . G 13 , where Jason promises Medea , on her parting from him , to send her the symbols of hospitality which should procure her a kind reception in foreign countries . It was the custom , says the Scholiast , when a guest had been entertained , to break a die in two parts , one of which parts was retained by the guest , so that if at any future period lie required assistance , on exhibiting the broken pieces of the die to each other the friendship was

renewed . Plautus , iu one of his comedies , gives us an exemplification of the manner in which these tesserm or pledges of friendship were used at Home , whence it appears that the privileges of this friendship were extended to the descendants of the contracting parties . Pcenulus is introduced , inquiring for Agorastocles , with whose family he had formerly exchanged the tessera . AG . Autidimai-chns' adopted son If yon do seek , I am the very man . Po . N . How ! do I hear ariht ?

g Ac ; . I am the son Of old Antidanms . PCEN . If so , I pi-ay yon Compare with me the hospitable die . I've brought this with me . Aa . Prithee , let me see it . It is , indeed , the A'ery counterpart Of mine at home .

PCEN . All hail , my welcome guest , Tour father was my guest , Antidanms . Your father was my honoured guest , and then This hospitable die with me he parted .

these tessera , thus used for the purposes of perpetuating friendship and rendering its union more sacred , were constructed in the following manner . A small piece of bone , ivory , or stone ( generally of a square or cubical form ) being divided into ecpial parts , each writes his own name , or some other inscription , upon one of the pieces ; they then made a mutual exchange , and , lest falling into other hands it should give occasion to imposture , tho pledge was preserved with the greatest secrecy , and no one knew the name inscribed upon it except the possessor . The primitive Christians seem to have adopted a similar practice , and the tessera was

carried by them in their travels as a means of introduction to their fellow Christians . A favourite inscription with them were the letters II . T . A . II ., being the initials of Father , Sou , and Holy Ghost . " Tbe use of these tessera in the place of written inscriptions continued , " says Br . Harris , " until the eleventh century , at which time they are mentioned by Burchardus , Archbishop of Worms , in a visitation charge . " The arrhabo was a similar keepsake , formed by breaking a piece of money in two . The etymology of this word shows distinctly that the Komaiis borrowed the custom of these pledges from the ancient Israelitesfor it is derived from the Hebrew arahona led

, , pge . With this detail of the customs of the ancients before us we can easily explain the wellknown passage in Revelation ii ., 17 : "To him that overcometb will I give a white stone , and in a new name written , which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it . " That is , to borrow tho interpretation of Harris , "To him that overcometh will I give a pledge of my affection , which shall constitute him my friend , and entitle him to privileges and honours of which none else can know the value or the extent . "