was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. "Now by this sacred sceptre hear me swear, Which never more shall leaves or blossoms bear, On the bare hills it left its parent tree."-HOм. Il. 1. 1. v. 234. The royal sceptre wielded in his hand, Which now Ægisthus bears; whence seemed to spring A green and leafy branch."-SOPH. Electr. v. 417. "The Jews have a certain feast when they carry about vine branches, and another when they carry wands wreathed with ivy into the temple, but what they do with them afterwards we know not."-PLUT. Sympos. 1. IV. qu. 6. "Our mast began to sprout and put out branches, and the main top bore figs and clusters of grapes, though not quite ripe."-LUCIAN. Ver. hist. 1. 1. c. 41. Latimus swears by his sceptre :— "Even as this royal sceptre (for he bore A sceptre in his hand) shall never more Shoot out its branches."-VIRG. Æn. 1. XII. v. 206. The bubbling broth; the bough fresh verdure takes ; Ov. Metam. 1. VII. v. 277. See Heb. IX. 4. NUMBERS XIX. 2. This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke. "The Egyptians consider it lawful to sacrifice red oxen, because Typhon seemed to be of that colour, who treacherously murdered Osiris, and was himself put to death by Isis for the murder of her husband."-DIOD. Sıc. 1. I. c. 88. "Twelve young heifers, guiltless of the yoke, Shall fill thy temple with a grateful smoke."-HOм. П. 1. VI. v. 309. "A yearling bullock to thy name shall smoke, IBID. Odyss. 1. III. v. 383.. 'A lamb, the fairest of the flock, they brought, APOL. RHOD. Arg. 1. v. v. 1185. "From his herd he culls For slaughter four, the fairest of his bulls; All fair and all unknowing of the yoke." -VIRG. Georg. 1. IV. v. 550. 9. And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation : it is a purification for sin. "Proceed you multitude, and take the fumigation from the vestal altar; Vesta will grant it. By the gift of Vesta you will be cleansed. The blood of a horse will be the fumigation, and the ashes of a calf."-Ov. Fast. 1. IV. v. 731. 13. Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the Lord. "I reproach the devices of the Goddess, who, if anyone work the death of a man, or touch with hands a woman newly delivered, or a corpse, restrains him from her altars, as deeming him impure, but yet herself takes pleasure in man-slaying sacrifices." EURIP. Iph. in Taur. v. 380. "Archianax, a child of three years old, being snatched from a well into which he had fallen, was eagerly examined by his mother whether any spark of life remained. The infant had not brought pollution upon the water, but afterwards while lying on its mother's knees it fell into the deep sleep."-ANTHOL. GRÆC. "Among the Persians ablution is customary after touching a dead body." STRAB. 1. XVI. c 1. "Lycurgus ordered the dead to be buried in the city, that the people might have no horror of death, nor suppose themselves polluted by the touch of a dead body." PLUT. Lycurg. c. 27. "The Galli, after carrying a comrade to the grave, must let seven days elapse before they are allowed to enter the temple. To do it sooner would be a great sin. "Whosoever has seen a dead body may not, on that day, enter the temple; but the following day, having previously purified himself, it is again permitted him. But those belonging to the household of the defunct must remain thirty days impure; they must then shave their heads, after which the temple is again open to them, and without these previous ceremonies it would be profanation to enter it."-LUCIAN. de dea Syria, c. 53. "When Sylla was feasting on account of the dedication of a tenth of his substance to Hercules, Metella fell sick and died. The priests forbade Sylla to approach her, or to have his house defiled with mourning. He therefore sent her a bill of divorce, and ordered her to be carried to another house while breath was in her body." PLUT. Sull. c. 35. "The consul Horatius being about to dedicate the temple of Jupiter in the capitol at Rome, the friends of Valerius hastily informed him that his son was dead, and insisted that (his family being thus defiled) he could not dedicate the temple."-Liv. 1. II. c. 8. See notes on Lev. XXI. 11. 17. And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel : 18. And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave. Strabo, describing the sacrificing of human victims to the moon, says : "The body, after being pierced to the heart, is carried away to a sacred spot, and then they all trample upon it, performing this action as a mode of purification to themselves."-STRAB. 1. xi. c. 4. NUMBERS XX. 26. And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there. The priests and prophets of the Gentiles used, before their death, solemnly to divest themselves of the ornaments and ensigns of their office, as resigning them up to their gods, and judging it not becoming to die in them. "CASSANDRA: Why do I longer wear these useless honours This laurel wand and these prophetic wreaths? Away! Before I die I cast you from me. Lie there and perish, I am rid of you, Or deck the splendid ruin of some other; Apollo rends from me these sacred vestments." Escн. Agam. v. 1264. Amphiaraus, the prophet, when warned by Phoebus of his approaching doom, exclaims: "Yet say, how long wilt thou defer my fate? E'en now I hear the Porter's triple yell, Hoarse-sounding Styx, and all the streams of hell. Too holy for the regions of the dead."-STAT. Theb. 1. vII. v. 781. NUMBERS XXI. 6. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. "In the age preceding the invasion of Darius, the Neuri were compelled to change their habitations from the multitude of serpents which infested them. Besides what their own soil produced, these came in far greater numbers from the deserts above them." HDT. 1. IV. v. 105. The heathen writers concur in testifying that the deserts wherein the Israelites journeyed produced serpents of so venomous a kind, that their bite was deadly and beyond the power of any art then known to cure it. They remark also that all the barren and sandy deserts had the greatest number of serpents, and of the most poisonous kind. "In the country of the Sabæi, in Arabia, are snakes of a dark red colour, a span in length, which spring up as high as a man's waist, and whose bite is incurable." STRAB. 1. XVI. c.4. Lucan thus describes the venomous serpents in Africa : "Thirsty, for springs they search the desert round, Dry aspics on the fatal margin stood, And dipsas thirsted in the middle flood. First of these plagues the drowsy asp appear'd, Of all the serpent race are none so fell, None with so many deaths, such plenteous venom swell. And her vast length along the sands extends ; Slimy cheliders the parch'd earth distain, Raised on his active tail the pareas stands, The prester by his foaming jaws is known, The seps invades the flesh and firmer bone, Dissolves the mass of man and melts his fabric down." LUCAN. Phars. 1. IX. v. 609-700. NUMBERS XXII. 6. Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed. "When Crassus was going to attack the Parthians, Ateius, one of the Tribunes, wishing to stop him, ran before the gate of the city, and placed there a censer, with fire in it. At the approach of Crassus he sprinkled incense upon the fire, offered libations, and uttered the most horrid imprecations, invoking at the same time certain dreadful and strange gods. The Romans say these mysterious and ancient imprecations have such power, that the object of them never escapes the effect, and, they add, that the person who uses them is sure to be unhappy; so that they are seldom employed, and never but upon a great occasion."-PLUT. Crass. c. 16. "All the priests and priestesses at Athens being commanded to denounce an execration against Alcibiades, it was denounced accordingly by all but Meno, priestess of the temple of Agraulos, who excused herself, alleging that she was a priestess for prayer, not for execration."-IBID. Alcibiad. c. 22. 23. And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way. So when Venus stood before the chariot of Mars, the horses refused to advance:- To stay his dreadful progress adverse stood; STAT. Theb. 1. III. v. 260. 28. And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou has smitten me these three times ? So one of Achilles' horses speaks, and warns him of his approaching fate : "Strange to tell, so Juno will'd, he broke Eternal silence, and portentous spoke : The fatal time must come ; : Not ours the fault, but God decrees thy doom." HOм. II. 1. 19. v. 406. K When Alexander invaded India, and Porus was about to engage with him in battle, the elephant on which Porus rode 'Spoke with a human voice, and said, O king, attempt nothing against Alexander." PLUT. de Fluv. c. 1. "In this year (B.C. 459), among other prodigies, it was believed that an ox spake, an incident to which in the last year credit had been refused."-Liv. 1. III. c. 10. ass. "It was not an uncommon prodigy among the ancients for an ox to speak." PLIN. Hist. nat. 1. vIII. c. 70. "The Leucrocotta is a wild beast of extraordinary swiftness, the size of the wild It is said that this animal can imitate the human voice."-IBID. c. 30. "It is mentioned, among other prodigies, that a dog once spoke."-IBID. c. 63. NUMBERS XXIII. 1. And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. "Seven bullocks, yet unyok'd, for Phoebus, choose, And for Diana seven unspotted ewes."-VIRG. Æn. 1. vi. v. 38. "Five sheep, according to the rites, he slew, As many swine and steers of sable hue."-IBID. 1. v. v. 96. "Unequal numbers please the gods."-IBID. Eclog. VIII. v. 75. See notes on Josh vi. 4. NUMBERS XXIV. 2. And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and saw all Israel abiding in his tents, according to their tribes. "Divide your troops into tribes, O Agamemnon, that tribe may stand by tribe, and clan by clan."-Hoм. I. 1. II. v. 362. “The Theban Pammenes reproved Homer, saying that he ranged together in battle those who were of the same race, lineage, and blood, &c."-PLUT. Sympos. 1. 1. qu. 2. 8. God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. Xenophon said to his soldiers : "The enemy which you see before you, we ought, if we can, even to eat alive (Karaḍayêw).”—XEN. Anab. 1. IV. c. 8. "Whenever any discourse arose about the Spartans, not a soul among them (ie. the Helots and others) could conceal the longing he had to eat them up alive (ofíew)." XEN. Hist. Græc. 1. III. c. 3. "Some one observed to the Patrensians that the Athenians would soon swallow them up "-PLUT. Alcib. c. 15. |