Apollonius Rhodius mentions a rocking-stone in the island Tenos, supposed to have been raised by Hercules over the tomb of Calais and Zetes. แ "One still remains Firm on its base; the other, lightly pois'd, Is viewed by many a wondering eye, and moves APOL. RHOD. Arg. 1. 1. v. 1307. "Near Harpasa, a town of Asia, there stands a terrific rock, which may be moved by a single finger, but if it be pushed by the force of the whole body, it resists. PLIN. Hist. Nat. 1. II. c. 98. See ch. XXXV. 14. 20. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21. So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: "Nature asks for bread and water only. demand."-SENEC. Epist. 25. 22. No one is so poor but he can answer this "What call I, then, ENOUGH? What will afford What Epicurus' little garden bore; And Socrates sufficient thought before. These squared by nature's rules their blameless life : Nature and wisdom never are at strife."-Juv. Sat. 1. XIV. v. 318. And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. 9. And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep; for she kept them. Rachel signifies a sheep. It was the custom among the ancients to give the names of animals to their children; as, for instance, Dorcas, the roe, Porcius, Ovilius, Caprilius, Equilius, &c. The office of a shepherd was not considered to be of a menial character in those days. 37. "The divine swineherd."-Hoм. Odyss. 1. XIV. 3. Melanthius the Goatherd— "to the feastful palace straight repaired, Familiar entered, and the banquet shared; Beneath Eurymachus, his patron lord, He took his place, and plenty heap'd the board.”—IBID. 1. XVII. v. 255. GENESIS XXX. And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. 38. And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. 39. And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted. "Any change in the water or drink of sheep will render their offspring mottled." PLIN. Hist. nat. 1. vIII. c. 72. "While the coupling is taking place, you must use the same water; if it is changed it will render the wool spotted, and injure the womb."-VARRO, de re rust. 1. II. c. 2. GENESIS XXXII. 27. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said Jacob. 28. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. "Among the Greeks additional names are given to some on account of their. achievements, as Soter the preserver, and Callinicus the victorious; to others for something remarkable in their persons, as Physcon the gore-bellied, and Gripus the eagle-nosed; or for their good qualities, as Euergetes the benefactor, and Philadelphus the kind brother; or for their good fortune, as Eudæmon the prosperous-a name given to the second prince of the family of the Batti. Several princes have also had satirical names bestowed upon them. Antigonus, for instance, was called Doson, the man that will give to-morrow; and Ptolemy was styled Lamyras, the buffoon.--PLUT. Coriolan. c. 11. GENESIS XXXIV. 12. Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife. It appears to have been customary for the parent to receive payment for his daughter when giving her in marriage, as is even now the case in some barbarous countries. Agamemnon, offering his three daughters to Achilles' choice, says: "Her let him choose whom most his eyes approve, I ask no presents, no reward for love."-HOM. I. 1. Ix. v. 146. Iphidamus, the Thracian had given for his bride a hundred oxen, and had promised also a thousand sheep and goats."-IBID. 1 xi. v. 244. "With gifts of price he sought and won the dame."-IBID. 1 xvi. v. 178. "Among the Assyrians this custom is observed every year. as are marriageable are, at an appointed time and place, assembled together. Such of the virgins Here the men also come, and some public officer sells by auction the young women one by one, beginning with the most beautiful, taking it for granted that each man would marry the maid he purchased."-HDT. 1. I. c. 196. "The Indians marry many wives, who are purchased from their parents, and give in exchange for them a yoke of oxen."-STRAB. 1. xv. c. 1. "Among the Germans the wife tenders no dowry to the husband but the husband to the wife.-TAC. Germ. c 18. GENESIS XXXV. 2. Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: 3. And let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. "Alcestis, when she perceived the destined day was come, washed her delicate skin with water from the river, and having taken from her closets of cedar, vesture and ornaments, she attired herself becomingly, and standing before the altar, prayed." EURIP. Alc. Act. I. v. 159. "Approach ye pure, in spotless garbs array'd! See notes on Ps. xxiv. 4. 4. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. These ear-rings, which had to be given up at the same time with the strange gods, were probably some kind of charms or amulets. See Hos. ii. 13, where Jerusalem is represented as having decked herself with the ear-rings of Baalim. Pliny mentions"A marine plant, charito-blepharon, which is particularly efficacious in loveBracelets and necklaces are made of it."-PLIN. Hist. nat. 1. XIII. c. 52. charms. 8. But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth. The nurse was always held in honour by the ancients. "Euryclea, Daughter of Ops, the just Pisenor's son, Sole with Telemachus her service ends, A child she nursed him, and a man attends." Hoм. Odyss. 1. 1. v. 429. The nurse of Hypsipile, the Queen of Lemnos, is introduced giving counsel in a public assembly, at which the Queen herself presides. "Her nurse Polyxo rose, an aged form, With wrinkles charg'd and blanch'd with many a storm. Her limbs decrepit failed beneath her weight, A faithful staff supports their trembling freight. Two blooming virgins at her side attend, By Love and Venus never taught to bend ; Time with his weary yoke her shoulders bowed, And thus she spake," &c.-APOL. RHOD. Arg. 1. 1. v. 668. Here dying, to the shore hast left thy name: Caieta still the place is call'd from thee, The nurse of great Æneas' infancy."-VIRG. Æn. 1. vII. v. 1. Had good Æneas rais'd a fun'ral flame In honour of his hoary nurse's name. Her epitaph he fixed," &c.—Ov. Metam. 1. xiv. v. 441. 14. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon. "Alexander anointed the pillar upon the tomb of Achilles with oil, and ran round it with his friends naked, according to the custom that obtains; after which he put a crown upon it.”—PLUT. Alex. c. 15. See ch. XXVIII. 18. GENESIS XXXVII. 29. And Reuben returned unto the pit: and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. This was a common method of expressing grief. After the defeat of Xerxes,— His gorgeous vestments from his royal limbs "Emilius, seeing his army in retreat, rent his clothes, as Posidonius tells us." GENESIS XXXIX. PLUT. Emil. Paul. c. 20. 7. And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. The following passage is adduced as evidence of the low state of morality in Egypt : 66 Pheron, king of Egypt, was blind for the space of ten years. In the eleventh an oracle was communicated to him from Butos, intimating that he should recover his sight by having his eyes washed by a virtuous woman. Pheron first made this experiment with his own wife, and when this did not succeed, he applied to other women indiscriminately. Having at length recovered his sight, he assembled all the women, except her who was the cause of the removal of his calamity, in a city which is to this day called Erythrebolos; all these, with the town itself, he destroyed by fire, but he married the female who had deserved his gratitude."-HDT. 1. II. c. 111. 12. And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and got him out. Tiberius, when one of his enemies laid hold of his gown, let it go, and continued his flight in his under garment.”—PLUT. Tib. Gracch. c. 19. 17. And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me. So Anteia accuses Bellerophon to her husband, king Protus, though he had, in fact, refused her solicitations; and a similar story is told of Peleus and Astydamia. "The fair Anteia, wife of Protus, mad But she prevail'd not o'er the virtuous mind Die thou, or slay Bellerophon, who sought Of late, to force me to his lewd embrace."-HOм. Il. 1. vi. v. 162. 18. And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled out. Phædra, when her advances have been refused by Hippolytus, makes use of a similar stratagem. "Let us throw back the crime upon him, and accuse him of the infamous attempt. Ho there, Athenians! Help, faithful attendants! Hippolytus offers violence! He is gone, and has left his sword here in his hasty flight. Behold the proof of his guilt!"-SENEC. Hippol. v. 720. "Prœtus, deceived by his wife, HOR. 1. III. carm. 7. "What did his virtuous resolve avail Hippolytus, or what Bellerophon? Surely she fired at the rejection of her suit, as though treated with indignity. Nor did Sthenoboa burn less fiercely than the Cretan; and both lashed themselves into a fury. A woman is then most ruthless when shame sets sharper spurs to her hate." Juv. Sat. x. 326. GENESIS XL. 8. And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you. The Jews appear to have had some reputation in later times for interpreting dreams. See JOB XXXIII. 15. "Without her badge, a Jewess now draws near, And, trembling, begs a trifle in her ear. No common personage! she knows full well The laws of Solyma, and she can tell The dark decrees of heaven; a priestess she, An hierarch of the consecrated tree! Moved by these claims, thus modestly set forth, She gives her a few coins of little worth; For Jews are moderate, and for farthing fees Will sell what fortune, or what dreams you please." Juv. Sat. VI. v. 542. "Ptolemy discovered his night vision to the Egyptian priests, whose profession it is to be skilled in things of this sort."-TAC. Hist. 1. Iv. c. 83. 9. And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me; |