months before, washed the dead corpse of a chief, and that on this account she was not to handle any food for five months. The other had performed the same office to the corpse of another person of inferior rank, and was now under the same restriction, but not for so long a time. At another place, hard by, we saw another woman fed, and we learnt that she had assisted in washing the corpse of the above-mentioned chief." "At the expiration of the time, the interdicted person washes herself in one of their baths, which are dirty holes, for the most part of brackish water, (compare Numb. xix. 19.) she then waits upon the king, and, after making her obeisance in the usual way, lays hold of his foot, applies it to her breast, shoulders, and other parts of her body. He then embraces her upon each shoulder, after which she retires, purified from her uncleanness." Vol. i. p. 410. No. 734.-xxii. 6. Come now therefore, I pray thee, and curse me this people] An opinion prevailed both in those days, and in after ages, that some men had a power by the help of their gods to devote not only particular persons, but whole armies, to destruction. This they are said to have done, sometimes by words of imprecation; of which there was a set form among some people, which Æschines calls διοριζομενην αραν, the determinate curse. Sometimes they also offered sacrifices, and used certain rites and ceremonies, with solemn charms. A famous instance of this we find in the life of Crassus: where Plutarch tells us, that Atticus, tribune of the people, made a fire at the gate, out of which Crassus was to march to the war against the Parthians; into which he threw certain things to make a fume, and offered sacrifices to the most angry gods, with horrid imprecations upon him: these, he says, according to ancient tradition had such a power, that no man who was loaded with them could avoid being undone. No. 735.-xxii. 31. Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way.] There are several instances to be found both in the scriptures and in profane authors, where the eyes have been opened by a divine power to perceive that which they could not see by mere natural discernment. Thus the eyes of Hagar were opened, that she might see the fountain, Gen. xxi. 19. Homer also presents us with an example of this kind. Minerva says to Diomed, Yet more, from mortal mists I purge thy eyes, Il. v. 164. POPE And in Virgil, Venus performs the same office to Æneas, and shews him the gods who were engaged in the destruction of Troy. Aspice; namque omnem, quæ nunc obducta tuenti Æn. ii. 604. Now cast your eyes around: while I dissolve, DRYDEN. Milton seems likewise to have imitated this, when he makes Michael open Adam's eyes to see the future revolutions of the world and the fortunes of his posterity. -then purg'd with euphrasy and rue Paradise Lost, b. xi. 414. No. 736.-xxiii. 1. Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams.] The ancients. were very superstitious about certain numbers, supposing that God delighted in odd numbers. Terna tibi hæc primum triplici diversa colore VIRG. Eclog. viii. 73. Around his waxen image first I wind Three woollen fillets, of three colours join'd; DRYDEN. No. 737.-xxiii. 23. What hath God wrought!] When the Baron du Tott was endeavouring to make the Turks better gunners, for want of which they suffered such great losses in the war with the Russians which terminated in 1774, he was forced by them very contrary to his wish, to fire a cannon at a certain mark. Upon redoubled solicitations he was prevailed on to point the piece, and was not less surprised than those around him to see the bullet hit the piquet in the centre of the butt. The cry Machalla! resounded on all sides. (Mem. vol. ii. part 3. p. 96.) at the bottom of the page is this note: Machalla! what God has done! an expression of the greatest admiration. There is a singular coincidence between this and the exclamation of Balaam. HARMER, vol. iv. p. 462. No. 738.-xxiv. 21. Thou puttest thynest in arock.] When Balaam delivered before Balak his predictions respecting the fate that awaited the nations which he then particularized, he says of the Kenites, Strong is thy dwelling, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock. Alluding herein to that princely bird the eagle, which not only deligts in soaring to the loftiest heights, but chooses the highest rocks and most elevated mountains as the most desirable situations for erecting her nests. The metaphor signifies security. See Hab. ii. 9. Obad. iv. GILLINGWATER M S. No. 739.-xxv. 8. And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman.] The zeal of Phinehas on this particular occasion received the divine approbation, both in personal commendation and public deliverance. Similar impunity with respect to shedding of blood was given by the lawgivers of other nations: Pausanius relates that Draco the Athenian legislator granted impunity to any body that took revenge upon an adulterer. Such also was the institution of Solon, « If any one seize an adulterer, let him use him as he pleases." Thus Eratosthenes answered a person who begged his life after he had injured his bed, "It is not I who slay thee, but the law of thy country." But it was in the power of the injured person to take a pecuniary mulct by way of atonement: for thus Eratosthenes speaks in Lysias," he entreated me not to take his life, but exact a sum of money." No. 740.-xxvi. 55. The land shall be divided by lot.] This appears to have been a very ancient method of dividing land. It was not only adopted in the present instance in the distribution of a whole country, but was commonly resorted to in order to apportion particular inheritances. See Hesiod, b. i. 55. Thus also in Homer, Ulysses is made to say, Sprung of a hand-maid from a bought embrace, I shar'd his kindness with his lawful race. L The large domain his greedy sons divide, Odyss. xiv. 234. POPE. No. 741.-xxxi. 23. It shall be purified with the water of separation.] The Jews have continued from the time of Moses particularly to observe such precepts, whether written or traditional, as respect purification. In many instances they have carried their regard to a superstitious extreme. Leo of Modena, (p. 8.) says, "If they buy any new vessel of glass, earth, or metal, they wash it first thoroughly, plunging it under water in some river, well, or bath." No. 742.-xxxv. 21. The revenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he meeteth him.] «The civil law declared a man to be unworthy to enjoy the inheritance of one that was murdered, if he neglected to prosecute the person that killed him, in some court of justice. But the Jewish law allowed, or rather required, a great deal morethat the next of kin should kill the murderer with his own hands, if he met him. Thus the Abyssinians at this day (as Ritterhusius observes out of Alvarez) deliver the mur derer into the hand of the next kinsman to torture him, PATRICK, in loc. The ancient Greeks had no public officer charged by the state to look after murderers. The relations of the deceased alone had a right to pursue vengeance. (Homer, ll. ix. 628.) Pausanias in many places speaks of this ancient usage, (lib. v. c. 1. p. 376. lib. viii. c. 34. p. 669.) an usage that appears to have subsisted always in Greece. GOUGET's Origin of Laws, vol. ii. p. 71. |