Esther viii. 15. The Jews made a decree that Simon should wear purple and gold, and that none of the people should wear purple, or a buckle of gold, without his permission, in token that he was the chief magistrate of the Jews, 1 Maccab. 43. Thus also Homer describes a king: In ample mode A robe of military purple flow'd O'er all his frame : illustrious on his breast, Odyss. xix. 261. POPE. No. 779.-ix. 13. Wine, which cheereth God and man.] This form of speech, however singular it may appear to us, is perfectly justifiable, as connected with the Jewish sacrifices, and as used in common both by them and by the Gentiles. Wine, as the Jewish doctors assert, was not only used in their sacrifices, but till the drink-offering was poured out they did not begin the hymn that was then sung to God. Virgil, speaking of noble vines, or wines, says, they were Mensis et diis accepta secundis. Georg. lib. i. 101. grateful to the gods and second courses: that is, they were so excellent as to be fit to be used for libations which were made at the second course. No. 780.-ix. 51. But there was a strong tower within the city, and thither fled all the men and women, and all they of the city, and shut it to them.] Besides fortified towns and cities, we find that in the time of the croisades they had towers for the people of open towns to fly to in time of danger. Thus in the reign of Baldwin the second, when the strength of the kingdom was collected together to the siege of Tyre, the people of Ashkalon suddenly invaded the country about Jerusalem, and put to the sword the greatest part of the inhabitants of a town called Mahomeria, five or six miles from Jerusalem. But the old men, the women, and the children, betaking themselves to a tower, escaped. (Gesta Dei per Francos, p. 840.) Towers of this sort appear to have been in use in very early times. HARMER, vol. ii. p. 239. No. 781.-xi. 30. And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord.] Though he did not doubt, yet he supposed that he should be more certain of the victory, if he made a religious vow beforehand of being grateful to God for it. In this he acted conformably to the general practice of great warriors in all ages. Livy frequently mentions it as the custom of the Roman generals, who used to vow to Jupiter or Apollo part of the spoil they should take in war or to build temples to their honour. Thus the Israelites, when Arad came against them as they were going to Canaan, made a vow respecting his country, if God would deliver it into their hands. Numbers xxi. 2. No. 782.-xii. 6. Then said they unto him, say now "Shibboleth: and he said, " Sibboleth."] In Arabia the difference of pronunciation by persons of various districts is much greater than in most other places, and such as easily accounts for the circumstance mentioned in this passage. Niebuhr (Trav. p. 72.) relates something similar to it. "The king of the Hamjares, at Dhafar, said to an Arab, a stranger, Theb, meaning to say, Sit down: but as the same word in the dialect of the stranger signified leap, he leaped from a high place, and hurt himself: when this mistake was explained to the king, he said, Let the Arab who comes to Dhafar first learn the Hamjare dialect." He further says, "not only do they speak quite differently in the mountains of the small district, which is governed by the imam of Yemen, from what they do in the flat country; but persons of superior rank have a different pronun ciation, and different names for things, from those of the peasants. The pronunciation of certain letters also differs. Those which the Arabs of the north and west pronounce as K or Q, at Maskat are pronounced tsch; so that bukkra kiab is by some called butscher tschiab." No. 783.-xiv. 10. And Samson made a feast there, for so used the young men to do.] This was according to the custom of all countries; it was called by the Jews the nuptial joy. No other feast was to be intermixed with it, and all labour ceased as long as it lasted. SELDEN, Uxor Hebr. lib. ii. cap. 11. p. 172. No. 784.-xiv. 12. And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you,] This shews how ancient the custom was, (which we find afterwards amongst the Greeks) of proposing questions to be resolved in their compotations and feasts, that they might not be spent merely in eating and drinking, but that there might be something to exercise their wit and ingenuity. Such riddles as were contrived to puzzle and perplex were called by the name of apoos, which the scholaist upon Aristophanes defines to be a question put among their cups. See BOCHART, Hieroz. lib. iv. cap. 12. It should also be observed, that they incurred a forfeiture equal to the reward if they failed altogether in their answers. No. 785-xiv. 12. I will give you thirty sheets, and thirty change of garments.] Among the Greeks it was usual for the bride to give changes of dress to the friends of the bridegroom at the celebration of the marriage. Homer represents Pallas as appearing to Nausicaa in a dream, and commanding her to descend to the river, and wash the robes of state, preparatory to her nuptials. Oh, indolent, to waste thy hours away! And sleep'st thou, careless of the bridal day? Arise, prepare the bridal train, arise. Odyss. vi. 29. POPE. Dacier is of opinion that the custom now alluded to prevailed amongst the Israelites, and that the proposition made by Samson is grounded upon it. From this sentiment Mr. Pope dissents: "I am rather of opinion," he says, "that what is said of Samson has relation to another custom amongst the ancients, of proposing an ænigma at festivals, and adjudging a reward to him that solved it. These the Greeks called γραφες συμποτικές.” No. 786.-xv. 5. And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines.] "There is reason to think there was nothing new or uncommon in this operation, as it was obvious for the end proposed, that the wit of man could devise. We accordingly find that Ovid alludes to the practice, and mentions that foxes and firebrands were every year exhibited at Rome, and killed in the circus. For it was the custom in many places to sacrifice by way of retaliation every animal, whether goat or swine, which did particular injury to the fruits of the earth. In consequence of this they introduced these foxes, which had been employed for that purpose with fire-brands. Cur igitur. missæ vinctis ardentia tædis He then mentions an instance of much injury done by a fox so accountred by fire. Qua fugit incendit vestitos messibus agros, Damnosis vires ignibus aura dabat. On this account the whole race, according to the poet, were condemned, at the festival called Cerealia, to be in their turns set on fire. Utque luat pœnas gens hæc, Cerealibus ardet, Fast. lib. iv. 681. 707. It is alluded to proverbially more than once by Lycophron, and seems to have been well known in Greece. He makes Cassandra represent Ulysses as a man both of cunning and mischief, and styles him very properly Xoups, a fox with a fire-brand at this tail; for wherever he went, mischief followed, v. 344. Suidas also takes notice of this custom, when he speaks of a kind of beetle which the Baotians named Tipha. They imagined that if to this they were to fasten some inflammable matter, it would be easy to set any thing: on fire. He adds, "that this was sometimes practised with foxes." BRYANT'S Observations, p. 154. The caliph Vathek being under the necessity, when on his travels, of lighting torches, and making extraordinary fires to protect himself and his attendants irom the fury of the wild beasts that were ready to make an attack on them, set fire to a forest of cedar that bordered on their way. Accidents of this kind in Persia are not unfrequent. Hist. of Caliph Vathek, p. 250. "It was an antient custom with the kings and great men to set fire to large bunches of dry combustibles, fastened round wild beasts and birds; which being then let loose, the air and earth appeared one great illumination; VOL. II. |