2. In the New Test, the stater is once mentioned, in the narrative of the miracle of the sacred tribute-money. At Capernaum the receivers <pf the didrachms {ui rd ciCpax^n \nfiii(h'»vTns) asked Peter whether his mas- ter paid the didrachms. The didrachm refers to the yearly tribute pai<l by every Hebrew into the treasury of the Temple. It has been supposed by some ancient and moilern commentators that the civil tribute is here referred to; but by this explanation the force of our Lord's reason for freedom from the payment seems to be completely missed. The sum was half a shekel, called by the Si'|)t. -v ij^tmv rov cicpti'j^fiov. The plain inference would therefore be that the receivers of sacred tribute took their name from the ordinary coin or weight of metal, the shekel, of which each person jiaid half. See SiiEKEi.. But it has been suppciscd tnat as the coined equivalent of this didrachm at the ])eriod of the evangelist was a tetradrachm, and the payment of each person was therefore a current didrachm [of ac- count], the term here applies to single |)ayments of di- drachms. This opinion would appear to receive some support from the statement of .Joseph us, that Vespasian fixed a yearly tax of two drachms on the Jews instead of that they had formerly paid into the treasury of the Temple ( ll'to-, vii, (5, (J). Put this passage loses its force when we remember that tlie common current sil- ver coin iu Palestine at the time of Vespasian, and that in which the civil tribute was paid, was the denarius, Me trihuti-iiton<y,\\\M\ equivalent to the debased Attic drachm. It seems also most unlikely that the use of the term didrachm should have so remarkably changed in the interval between the date of the Sept. translation of the Pentateuch anil that of the writing of Matthew's (fospcl. To return to the narrative. Peter was com- manded to lake up a (ish whicli slioLdd be found to con- tain a stater, which he was to jjay to the C(dlectors of tribute for our Lord and himself" (Matt, xvii, 24-27). The stater must here mean a silver tetradrachm ; and the only tetradrachms then current in Palestine were of the same weight as the Hebrew shekel. It is ol>
servable, in ( firmatioii of the minute accuracy of the
evangelist, that at this period the silver currency in Palestine consisted of (;reek imperial tetradraciims, or Btaleni, and Homan denarii of a quarter their value, di- drachms having fallen into disuse. Had two didrachms been found by Peter, the receivers of tribute would Hcarcely have taken them; and, no doubt, the ordinary coin paid was that niiracidou>ly supplied. The tetra- drarhms of Syria and I'hoiiicia during the 1st century were always of jjure silver, but afterwards the coinage be<;ame greatly debased, though Antioch continued to strike tetradrachms to the JJd century, but they grad- ually deprecinted. It was recpiired (pliole, Ilinl.Of Jtv; C'oi'.n./e. p. 210) that the tribute should be paid "in full weii,'hl,nnd therefore the date of the gosfiel must be of a lime whi-n sinters of pure silver were current. — Smitli; Killo. See Sli.VKIt, I'llXKOK.
States of the Church, called also The Pupal .S/(f^',^•. was the name given to the dominions formerly belonging to the see of Pome. These states occupied the central part of Italy, stretching across the peninsula in an oblique direction from the Mediterranean to the Atlriatic, bounded south by Naples, and north by Tuscany, Modena, and the Austrian possessions. The territory included twenty provinces, six of which, called l^egai ions, were governed by a cardinal legate, and four- teen, called Delegations, were administered by dignita- ries of lower degree. The number of square miles was 15,381; population, 3,124,(588, including about 10.000 regular clergy or monks, 8000 nuns, and about 32,000 secular clergy.
The central government was an elective monarchy. The pope for the time being was the absolute sovereign of the States ; he was assisted by a council of ministers and a council of state, over each of which the cardinal secretary of state presided. The congregation or board called "Sacra Consulta," consisting of cardinals and prelates, superintended the administration of the prov- inces, and was also a court of appeals for criminal mat- ters. The temporal power of the pope, exerted over these states, derived its origin from his spiritual power, and the following is, iu brief, its history. After the fall of the Western Empire, Rome retained its municipal government, and the bishop of Rome, styled Pr£esul,wa3 elected by the joint votes oft he clergy, the senate, and the people, but was not consecrated until the choice was con- firmed by the Eastern emperor. In 726 pope Gregory declared himself independent of the Byzantine crown, which act was the first step towards the establishment of temporal sovereignty. Rome now governed itself as an independent commonwealth, forming alliances with the dukes of Beiievento and Spoleto and with the Longobards; the pope generally being the mediator of these transactions. Pepin, having defeated Astol])hus, king of the Longobards, obliged him not only to respect the duchy of Rome, but to give up the exarchate of Ravenna and the Pentapolis "to the Holy Church of (iod and the Roman republic." Pepin's son, Charle- magne, contirmed and enlarged the donation. The temporal power of the popes in these times was very little, being restrained on one side by the republican s])irit of the people, and on the other by the imperial power, which regained the ascendency whenever the emperor visited Rome. In 10,53 the pope oi)tained the duchy of Benevento by aid of the Normans, and the liefs of Matilda of Tuscany, in Parma, Modena, Mantua, and Tuscany, by her will dated 1 102. Severe struggles as to authority over the Papal States ensued between (iregory VII and Henry IV, between Innocent III, Henry VI, and Otho IV; and it was not until P278 that jiopc Nicholas III induced Rudolph I of Hapsbnrg to acknowledge him a free sovereign, thereby establishing the Papal States as an independent empire. The ter- ritory of the States was increased under Julius II by Pesaro, Rimini, Faenza, and Reggio; in 1598 by Ferrara, Comacchio, and the Romagna; in 1G23 by Urbino; and in 1050 by Romiglione and the duchy of Castro. It underwent some change during the wars of Napoleon, being at one time entirely incorporated with France. In 1814 the pope was restored to his dominions. Soon after his accession, pope Pius IX. after a series of liberal concessions to his subjects, appointed a ministrj'.at the head of which was count Rossi, and granted a constitu- tional parliament, consisting of ninety-nine members |)o|)ularly elected. But the democratic element was unsatisfied, and count Rossi was assassinated, Nov. 15, 1848. The pope tied to (iaeta (Nov. 25) and jdaced him- self under ihe protection of the king of Najiles. A pro- visional junta was instituted in Rome, and a constituent assembly called, which proclaimed a republican form of government, anil declared the po])e divested of all tem- poral power (Feb. 8, 1849). The pope protested and the great Catiiolic powers interfered in his behalf. France, Spain, and Naiiles sent troops to support his