The phrase " three and four," so often repeated (Amos i), means abundance, anything that goes on towards ex- cess. It finds its parallel in Virgil's well-known words, 0 terque quaterque beati (" O three and four times hap- py," .Ell. i, 94 ; see also Odyss. v, 306).
'I hree has also been considered, both by Jews and
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Christians, as a distinguished or mystical number, like " seven." Ainswortli, on Gen. xxii, 4, has Cdllccted many such instances, but they appear to be somewhat fanciful. — Kitto. A ternary or triiial arrangement of subjects, however, is very prevalent in the Bible (see an anonymous monogra])h on The Triads of Scripture [Lynchburg, 1800]). See Number.
Three Chapters {Tria Capitula), the title of an edict publishetl by the emperor Justinian. He having, in the j'ear 542, been shocked by some of the writings of Origen, published an edict in which nine of the chief Origenist errors were set forth and condemned, Origen himself being also anathematized. Theodore, the Mo- nophysite bishop of Cajsarea in Cappadocia, devised a plan by which to avenge the memory of Origen, and to strengthen the position of the Monoj^hysites. He per- suaded the emperor that the Acephali might be restored to the Church and reconciled to the decrees of Chalce- don, if the writings under three " heads" or "cha|iters" which he named were condemned, and so ceased to be- come stumbling-blocks to them by seeming to support the Nestorian heresy. These were (1) the Epistle of Theodoret against the twelve anathemas of St. Cyril, (2) the Epistle of Ibas of Edessa to Maris, and (3) the works of Theodore of Mopsuestia. All these writings having carried weight with them at the Council of Chalcedon, the condemnation of them by Justinian would be, to a certain extent, a repudiation of that coun- cil, and so a recognition of the Monophysites condemned by it. Attracted by the hope of reconciling the Aceph- ali, and not seeing these consequences, the emperor pub- lished the edict of the Three Chapters, A.D. 544 ; giv- ing a profession of his own faith, and anathematizing the three works above named. The edict was sub- scribed by the four Eastern patriarchs, and, after some hesitation, it was also assented to by Vigilius, bishop of Kome, with an added clause to the effect that in doing so he did not condemn the Council of Chalcedon. This assent he afterwards retracted when excommunicated by a council at Carthage, and in 550 declared the East- ern bishops separated from the communion of Kome. The condemnation of the Three Chapters, with a simi- lar reservation respecting the Council of Chalcedon, was, however, confirmed by the fifth General Council, A.D. 653, the second Council of Constantinople. See JIansi, Concil. ix, (il, IS 1,487; Natal, Alex, v, .502. — Blunt, Lict, of Sects, s. V.
Three Denominations, a name given to the In- dependents, the Baptists, and the Presbyterians at the time when these three sects represented the great body of English Dissenters. They were the Dissenters rec- ognised by the Act of Toleration (1 William and Mary, c. 18), and had the privilege granted to them of pre- senting corporate addresses to the sovereign. — Blunt, Diet, of Sects, s. v.
Three Taverns (TptTg Ta[3epvai, Gr.^cized from the Latin Tres Taherme), a station on the Appian Road, along which Paul travelled from Puteoli to Kome (Acts xxviii, 15). The Koman Christians went, in token of respect, to meet Paul at these places, having been prob- ably apprised of his approach bj' letters or express from Puteoli (ver. 13-15) — one party of them resting at the Three Taverns, and the other going on to Appii Forum. When the apostle saw this unequivocal token of respect ami zeal, he took fresh courage. There is no doubt that the Three Taverns was a frequent meeting- place of travellers. A good illustration of this kind of intercourse along the Appian Way is supplied by Jose- phus {Ant. xvii, 12, 1) in his account of tlie journey of the pretender Herod Alexander. He landed at Puteoli (Dicfearchia) to gain over the Jews that were there; and "when the report went about him that he was coming to Kome, the whole multitude of the .Jews that were there went out to meet him, ascribing it to Divine Providence that he had so unexpectedly escaped." See Paul,
The word rajiipva is plainly the Latin taherna in Greek letters, and ileuotes a house made with boards or planks, quasi trabena. Wooden houses, liuts, etc., are called tubernoi. Thus Horace, " Pauperum tabcrnas re- gumque turres" (Cann. i, 14, 13). Hence the word also means shops, as distinguished from dwelling-houses. Horace uses it for a bookseller's shop {Sat. i, 4, 71), and for a wine-shop {£p. i, 14, 24). The shops at Pompeii are booths, connected'in almost every case with dwell- ings behind, as they were in London three centuries ago. When eatables or drinkables were sold in a Ko- man shop, it was called taberna, tavern, victualling- house. Grolius observes that there were many places in the Koman empire at this time which had the names of Forum and Taberuiis, the former from having ??«;?■- kets of all kinds of commodities, the latter from furnish- ing wine and eatables. The place or village called ■'Three Taverns" probably, therefore, derived its name from three large inns, or eating-houses, for the refresh- ment of travellers passing to and from Kome. Zosimus calls it Tfjia Konr]Xt7a (ii, 10). Apyiii Forum appears to have been such another place. Horace mentions the lat- ter, in describing his journey from Rome to Bnnidusium, as " differtum nautis, cauponibus atque malignis" — stuif- ed with rank boatmen, and with vintners base {Sat.i, 5, 3). That the Three Taverns was nearer Rome than Ap- pii Forum appears from the conclusion of one of Cicero"s letters to Atticus (ii, 10), which, when he is travelling soiil/i-eastwa7-ds from Antium to his seat near Forming, he dates " Ab Appii Foro, hora quarta" — from Appii Fo- nmi, at the fourth hour; and adds, " Dederam aliam paulo ante, Tribus Tabernis" (I wrote you another, a little w hile ago, from the Three Taverns). Just at this point a road came in from Antium on the coast, as we learn from the same letter of Cicero {Att. ii, 12). The Itincrarj' of Antoninus places Appii Forum at forty-three Koman miles from Rome, and the Three Taverns at thirty-three ; and, comparing this with what is observed still along the line of road, we have no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that the Three Taverns was near the modern Cisteriia (see Smith, Diet, of Greek and Rom. Geor/. ii, 1226 b, 1291 b). In the 4th century there was a bishop of Three Taverns, named Felix (Op- tatus, lib. i). It has been stated by some ihat the place still remains, and is called Tre Tuverne. Thus, in Eve- lyn's time (1045), the remains were "yet very faire" {Diarie, i, 134). But recent travellers have been una- ble to find more than a few unnamed remains, on the spot indicated {Chawpy , M uison cf Horace, iii,38o; D'An- ville. Analyse de F Italic, p. 195; Westphal, Row. Kam- parpie, p. 69 ; Fleck, Wissenschaftl, Reise, I, i, 375). See Appii Forum.