When these beautiful lines were composed by Lord Byron, I was anxious to ascertain his real sentiments

The father, who had escaped the storm, arrived safe at the wished-for haven; but a black presage of his misfortune now made him bitterly repent his rash vow: he dreaded his coming among his own people; he turned his eyes to the ground, and trembled for fear of seeing whatever was dearest to him in the world. He sees his son-he starts back with horror-his eyes in vain look about for some other head, less dear to him, to serve for his intended sacrifice. Grown mad, and pushed on by the infernal furies, he thrust his sword into the heart of the youth, and drew it out again, all reeking and drenched in blood, to plunge it into his own bowels; but he was prevented by those that were present.

This account of Idomeneus is not exactly fabulous, for we find it narrated by several authors. Servius, in his Commentary on Virgil, relates it as follows:

"Idomeneus, quum post eversam Trojam reverteretur, in tempestate devovit diis sacrificaturum se dare, quæ ei primo occurrisset. Contigit autem, ut filius ejus primus occurreret ; quem quùm, ut alii dicunt, immolasset; ut alii, immolare voluisset, à civibus pulsus regno, Salentinum Calabræ promontorium tenuit, juxta quod condidit civitatem."

"Idomeneus, when he was returning from Crete, after the destruction of Troy, was caught in a storm; and in that extremity he vowed that he would sacrifice to the gods the first being that should meet him on his landing. It happened that his son was the first person that presented himself to his view. And when he had sacrificed him, as some say, or attempted it, as others report, he was driven from his kingdom by his subjects; and

on the subject, hinting my own belief that it might not necessarily mean a positive sacrifice of the daughter's life, but perhaps referred to a sentence of perpetual seclusion, a state held by the Jews as dead indeed to society, and the most severe infliction that could be imposed. With his usual frankness, he observed, "Whatever may be the absolute state of the case, I am innocent of her blood; she has been killed to my hands: besides, you know such an infliction, as the world goes, would not be a subject for sentiment or pathos-therefore do not seek to exumate the lady."

having taken possession of the Promontory of Salentinum, in Calabria, he built a city in that neighbourhood.”—SERV. Æ. III. 121. XI. 264.

The following story of Iphigenia is also strikingly similar to that of Jephtha:-" When the Greeks, going to the Trojan war, were detained by contrary winds at Aulis, they were informed by one of the soothsayers, that to appease the gods, they must sacrifice Iphigenia (the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra) to Diana.

"The father, who had provoked the goddess by killing her favorite stag, heard this with the greatest horror and indignation; and rather than shed the blood of his daughter, he commanded one of his heralds, a chief of the Grecian forces, to order all the assembly to depart each to his respective home. Ulysses and the generals interfered, and Agamemnon consented to immolate his daughter for the common cause of Greece."

On another occasion when Jephtha was the subject of conversation, his lordship with much good humour suddenly put an end to the argument, by exclaiming, "Well, my hands are not imbrued in her blood! I shall not by killing her incur censure from the world, for an attempt to deprive them of the pleasure of thinking a little more on the subject."

Nearly all the ancient commentators agree in opinion that Jephtha did actually sacrifice the life of his daughter. Jonathan, son of Huziel, who lived in the time of the second temple, and who gave the explanation of the bible in Chaldaic, on verses 39 and 40 of the eleventh chapter of Judges, says, " and it became a law in Israel, that no man should ever offer up his son or daughter for a sacrifice, as Jephtha had done: and" continues the commentator, "Jephtha did not refer to, or enquire of Phinehas the priest; (b) for had he done so, Phinehas would have informed

(b) This is the same Phinehas who is mentioned in Numbers, chap. 25, verse 11 :—“ Phinehas, the son of Eleazer, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel. He was living in the time of Jephtha, as we find in Judges, chap. 20, verse 28. "And Phinehas the son of Eleazer, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days." And this was many years after Jephtha. The same Phinehas existed more than

שלשלת הקבלה years, as it appears in the book called 300

"Chain of Tradition."

him that his daughter could be redeemed with money. There is a law in Israel, that when a man offereth an animal that is unfit for sacrifice it must be redeemed with money, with which another animal that is fit for sacrifice shall be purchased." (c) See Talmud.

Notwithstanding that the Medrish, (d) and nearly all the Hebrew commentators, are decided in their opinion as to the positive sacrifice of life in this instance, more than a sentence of perpetual seclusion cannot be concluded from sacred history. (e)

The errors that have arisen from literal translation of figurative expressions in use among a particular people, have frequently occasioned an entire mis

(c) The redeeming of a person is mentioned in Leviticus, chap. 27, verses 3, 4, 5.

(d) Thus says the Medrish—“ Phinehas, being then the priest of the age, said unto himself, 'Jephtha is in want of me. It is proper that he should come to me.' And Jephtha said, ‘I am head governor of Israel; should I go to him?' So between them both the damsel perished; and therefore they were both punished for the sake of her blood, as follows: The Holy Spirit departed from Phinehas, as it is mentioned in Chron. chap. 9, verse 20.‹ And Phineas, the son of Eleazer, was the ruler over them in time past (before and until this event), and the Lord was with him.' And Jephtha was afflicted with leprosy, so that his limbs fell off of him in every place where he went, as it is said, 'and he was

"מדרש רבה buried in the cities of Gilead

(e) Judges, chap. 11, verse 39.

conception of their tendency. It is not always sufficiently remembered that the eastern nations, especially the Jews, are peculiarly given to the use of figures, which indeed seem to have originated from the early use of hieroglyphics.

The passage in Judges, chapter 11, verse 37,

And I will go down by the * וירדתי על ההרים

mountains"(f)-In Medrish Tanhuma, Rabi Tanhuma saith, that the expression "Mountain" is used for the sanhedrim, for mighty men are so called. Thus the daughter of Jephtha said, "I will go down by the mountains, peradventure they will annul the

Vow."

To prove that the expression "mountain" is used for mighty men, in Micah, chap. 6, verses 1 and 2, it says, "Hear ye now what the Lord saith: arise, contend thou before the mountains, and the hills hear my voice; and hear ye, O mountains! the Lord's controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel."

which is in the English Bible thus incorrectly given, "that I may go up and down upon the mountains."