Thus in Virgil, Hercules is described furens animis, dentibus infrendens, raging in mind, and gnashing his teeth. (En. viii. 228.) So also Polyphemus: Dentibus infrendens gemitu. n. iii. 664. No. 968.-xvii. 9. He that hath clean, hands.] The idea here suggested is that of purity and holiness. Porphyry observes, that in the Leontian mysteries the initiated had their hands washed with honey, instead of water, to intimate that they were to keep their hands. pure from all wickedness and mischief; honey being of a cleansing nature, and preserving other things from corruption. No. 969.-xviii. 4. Shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of its place ?] When the Orientals would reprove the pride or arrogance of any person, it is common for them to desire him to call to mind how little and contemptible he and every mortal is, in these or similar apophthegms: What though Mahommed were dead, His imams (or ministers) conducted the affairs of the nation. The world does not subsist for one man alone. LOWTH'S Lect. (Gregory's Translat.) vol. ii. p. 420. Brimstone shall be scattered No. 970.-xviii. 15. upon his habitation.] Scheuchzer (Physic. Sacr. vol. iv. p. 709.) is of opinion that this expression refers to the lustration of houses with sulphur, to drive away dæmons, remove impurity, and make them fit to dwell in: (Homer, Od. xxii. prope finem) but others think it is to be understood of the burning of sulphur in houses at funerals, to testify and exaggerate mourning. Livy mentions this practice as usual amongst the Romans, lib. xxx, No. 971. xxi. 33. The clods of the valley shall be These words seem to suppose that sweet unto him.] the person buried in a grave may partake in some respects of the prosperous state of the tomb which contains him. Such an idea seems to have been indulged by Sultan Amurath the Great, who died in 1450. "Presently after his death, Mahomet his sonne, for feare of some innouation to be made at home, raised the siege, and returned to Hadrianople: and afterwards with great solemnitie buried his dead body at the west side of Prusa in the suburbs of the citie, where he now lieth, in a chappell without any roofe, his graue nothing differing from the manner of the common Turks; which they say he commanded to be done in his last will, that the mercie and blessing of God (as he termed it) might come vnto him by the shining of the sunne and moone, and falling of the raine and due of heauen upon his graue." KNOLLES'S Hist. of the Turks, p. 332. No. 972.-xxvii. 21. The east-wind carrieth him away, and he departeth; and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.] The ancients were persuaded that some persons were carried away by storms and whirlwinds. Homer gives us an instance of this, making one exclaim, Snatch me, ye whirlwinds, far fróm human race, See also Isaiah xli. 16. Odyss. b. xx. No. 973.-xxix. 3. When his candle shone upon my head.] The houses of Egypt, according to Maillet, are never without lights in the night-time. If such were the ancient custom not only of Egypt, but of the neighbouring countries of Judea and Arabia, it will strongly illustrate this passage. Mr. Scott, however. thinks that there is probably an allusion to the lamps, which hung from the ceiling in the banqueting-rooms of the wealthy Arabs; not unlike what Virgil mentions in the place of Dido, -dependent lychni laquearibus aureis From gilded roofs depending lamps display En. i. 730. DRYDEN. No. 974. xxix. 7. When I prepared my seat in the street.] Job here speaks of himself as a civil magistrate, as a judge upon the bench, who had a seat erected for him to sit upon whilst he was hearing and trying causes: and this was set up in the street, in the open air, before the gate of the city, where great numbers mighẹ be convened, and hear and see justice done. The Arabs to this day hold their courts of justice in an open place, under the heavens, as in a field, or a market-place. See Norden's Travels in Egypt, vol. ii. p. 140. No. 975.-xxix. 8. The aged arose, and stood up.] "This is a most elegant description, and exhibits most correctly that great reverence and respect which was paid even by the old and decrepit, to the holy man in passing along the streets, or when he sat in public. They not only rose, which in men so old and infirm was a great mark of distinction, but they stood; they continued to do it, though even the attempt was so difficult." LowTH's Lect. vol. ii. p. 412. No. 976. xxix. 19. The dew lay all night upon my branch.] It is well known that in the hot eastern countries, where it rarely rains during the summer months, the copious dews which fall there during the night contribute greatly to the nourishment of vegetables in general. "This dew," says Hasselquist, speaking of the excessively hot weather in Egypt, "is particularly serviceable to the trees, which would otherwise never be able to resist this heat; but with this assistance they thrive well and blossom, and ripen their fruit." Travels, p. 455. No. 977.-xxx. 4. Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.] BIDDULPH (Collection of Voyages and Travels from the Library of the Earl of Oxford, p. 807.) says he "saw many poor people gathering mallows and three-leaved grass, and asked them what they did with it: they answered, it was all their food; and that they boiled it, and did eat it. Then we took pity on them, and gave them bread, which they received very joyfully, and blessed God that there was bread in the world." HARMER, vol. iii. p. 166. No. 978.—xxx. 23. Death, the house appointed for all living.] Those expressions in which the grave is described as the house appointed for all living; the long home of man; and the everlasting habitation; are capable of much illustration from antiquity. MONTFAUCON says, "We observed in the fifth volume of our Antiquity a tomb styled quietorium, a resting-place. Quiescere, to rest, is often said of the dead in epitaphs. Thus we find in an ancient writer a man speaking of his master who had been long dead and buried, cujus ossa bene quiescant; may his bones rest in peace. We have an instance of the like kind in an inscription in Gruter, (p. 696.) and in another (p. 594.) fecit sibi. requietorium, he made himself a resting-place. This resting-place is called frequently too an eternal house. In his life-time he built himself an eternal house, says one epitaph. He made himself an eternal house with his patrimony, says another. He thought it better (says another) to build himself an eternal house, than to desire his heirs to do it. They thought it a misfortune when the bones and ashes of the dead were removed from their place, as imagining the dead suffered something by the removal of their bones. This notion occasioned all those precautions used for the safety of their tombs, and the curses they laid on those who removed them." It No. 979.-xxxi. 20. The fleece of my sheep.] was common in Judea, and possibly in other eastern countries, to clothe their sheep to keep their wool clean from dirt and filth. Horace seems to allude to this custom when, speaking of the Tarentine sheep, he says, Dulce pellitis ovibus Galesi B. ii. Od. 6. This practice was unquestionably designed to enhance the value of the fleece, and render the wool itself more useful and excellent. No. 980.-xxxii. 21. Neither let one give flattering titles unto man.] The Hebrew word here used signifies to surname, or more properly to call a person by a name which does not strictly belong to him, and that generally in compliment or flattery. Mr. Scott on this passage informs us from Pococke, that "the Arabs make court to their superiors by carefully avoiding to address them by their proper names, instead of which they salute them with some title or epithet expressive of respect." |