unto Mofes, Rife up early in the morning, and Stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and fay unto him, Thus faith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may Serve me:

V. 21. Elfe, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will fend fwarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy fervants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians fhall be full of fwarms of flies, and alfo the ground, whereon they are.

V. 22. And I will fever in that day the land of Goben, in which my people dwell, that no fwarms of flies fhall be there; to the end thou mayeft know, that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.

V. 23. And I will put a divifion between my people, and thy people: to-morrow shall the fign be.

V. 24. And the Lord did fo: and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his fervants houfes, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reafon of the fwarm of flies.

We find, that Mofes was ordered to accoft Pharaoh, and to disclose to him the will of God, at the time, when he was taking his morning walk upon the banks of the Nile. It was probably a season of customary adoration; when the prince of the country fhewed his reverence to the stream, which was esteemed fo beneficial and facred. The judgment to be denounced was a plague of flies: and of the fame fpecies according to Bochart; as was ftiled by the Romans Mufca

Mufca Canina, and by the Grecians 'Kuvova. They were brought all over the land in vaft numbers; and feem to have been not only formidable for their fwarms, but for the *painfulness of their ftings, as well as of their bite, which was intolerable. There is reason to think, that the Egyptians had particular deities to remedy ftated evils; as we may infer from the nations, who came from them. They were fimilar to the 90 αποτροπαίοι, and Dii Averrunci, of Greece and Rome: and their department was to ward off those natural evils to which their votaries

Whether the term y denotes abfolutely a distinct fpecies of fly, or swarms of all forts, may be difficult to determine. The Seventy express it nuvova.

Exod. 8. v. 21.

V. 22.

Ιδε, εγω εξαποτέλλω επι σε το κυνόμυιαν. De Terra Gofenoux εται εκει ἡ κυνόμυια. Είπε, και ήλθε κυνόμυια. Pfalm 104. ν. 31. Εξαπέςειλεν επ' αυτές κυνόμυιαν, και κατέφαγεν αυτές. Pfalm 77. v. 45.

The Vulgate renders it-Omne genus mufcarum. Aquila-Taμuvav. The like is to be found in the Syriac and Samaritan.-Cyniphen omnis generis: & omne genus muscarum, according to the Latin translation.

2

Ους κεν γαρ ακρίδων και μυίων απέκτεινε δηγμα. Sapient. Liber. c. 16. v. 9.

were

I

were liable. The province allotted to several deities was particularly to drive away flies. I have shewn that many of the Grecian states confifted of colonies from Egypt; and we read of Jupiter μυιαγρος, μυιοκόρος, απομυιος, all titles conferred upon this deity from a fuppofition of his clearing his temples from these infects. He was worshipped under this character at Elis; as Hercules was at Rome. The Arcadians alfo facrificed to the hero Myiagrus, from whence we may infer that the worship was very ancient. The like obtained at Cyrene, where the deity was ftiled Achor, as we learn from Pliny. Cyrenaïci Achorem deum (invocant) mufcarum multitudine peftilentiam adferente; quæ protinus intereunt, poftquam litatum eft deo. From the fuppofed influence of the prefiding deity many temples were faid to have been free.

Απομνίω Δια θυεσιν Ήλειος, Ρωμαιοι δε Απομνίῳ Ηρακλει Clemens. Protrept. p. 33. See alfo Paufan. 1. 5. p. 410. 2 Paufan. 1. 8. p. 653. Ev TaUTH TY TAMYUge Mulaypu. * προθύεσιν, επευχόμενοι και επικαλέμενοι τον Μυιαγρον. L. 10. c. 26. Salmafius would alter this-fee

Exercitat. Plin. p. 10. See alfo Pliny, 1. 29. c. 6.

from

2

from this inconvenience. Thus we are told by Apollonius Dyfcolus, that there were no flies feen in the temple of Venus at Paphos; and the altar of Hercules in the Forum Boarium at Rome was faid to have had the fame immunity. The like is mentioned of the altar of Jupiter at 'Olympia: and of another at Aliphera in Arcadia: likewise at other places.

Of Flies held facred.

But this was not all. These infects, however incredible it may appear, were in many places worshipped. This reverence feems to have been fometimes fhewn, to prevent their being troublesome, at other times, because they were esteemed facred to the deity. Ælian accordingly tells us, that at Actium, where ftood the temple of Apollo,

See Rerum Mirabil. Scriptores by Meurfius. c. 7. p. 14.

2 Nam divinitus illo neque canibus neque mufcis ingreffus eft. Solinus, 1. 1. p. 2.