"What is there in life so necessary to be enquired after as what is the end, the last and chief thing, to which all the counsels of a good life and just actions are to be referred."-Cic. de fin. 1. 1. c. 4. We "Let us so compose the mind, that whatever exigence happens we may meet it willingly; and especially let us think on our latter end without regret or sorrow. must provide for death rather than for life."-SENEC. ep. 61. "We are often guilty of error because we deliberate upon the parts of life without taking in and reflecting upon the whole. The man who lets fly an arrow to any purpose, must first know the mark he aims at, and guide it with a skilful hand."-IBID. ep. 71. 34. Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed among my treasures? It was the custom with the ancients to secure their store houses and treasuries by sealing them, for which purpose they usually wore engraved seal rings upon their fingers. See notes on Num. XXXI. 50. Dan. vi. 17, and Matt. xxvII. 66. 'Nothing is so well sealed up in my house that ye may not break the sealing-wax and take it away."--ARISTOPH. Lysist. v. 1197. They now put seals and bolts upon the apartments of the women, in order to guard us."-IBID. Thesmoph. v. 414. "Tiberius put his own seal upon the doors of the temple of Saturn, that the Quæstors might neither bring anything into the treasury, nor take anything out." PLUT. Tib. Gracch. c. 10. "You ask me to sign papers. That may be done to-morrow; to-night my seal is wanted for the bottle."-MART. 1. IX. epigr. 87. 40. I live for ever. "The Deity is distinguished by three things-immortality, power, and virtue; and of these virtue is the most excellent and divine."-PLUT. Arist. c. 6. See Exod. III. 14. JOSHUA II. 18. Behold, when we come into the land thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee. 19. And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him. Sophocles, in his play, 'The Capture of Troy,' says that a panther's skin was placed before Antenor's door as a signal that his house was to be spared from plunder." STRAB. 1. XIII. c. 1. At the marriage of the Romans it was customary for the bride to bind a fleece, or a piece of wool upon the doorpost of her future dwelling, and to anoint it with lard or wolf's fat in order to avert evil from the house. "The ancient Romans attributed to wool a degree of religious importance even, and it was in this spirit that they enjoined that the bride should touch the door-posts of her husband's house with wool.-PLIN. Hist. nat. 1. XXIX. c. 9. "In plain, unsolemnwise his faith he plights Luc. Phars. 1. II. v. 355. JOSHUA III. 15. And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) 16. That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city of Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down towards the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off and the people passed over right against Jericho. The Jordan appears to have been a river of much greater magnitude in former times than it is at present. Strabo says: "The Lycas and the Jordan are navigated upwards, chiefly by the Aradii, with vessels of burden."-STRAB. 1. XVI. c. 2. Pliny gives the following account of it :— "The river Jordanes is a delightful stream, and, so far as the situation of the localities will permit, winds along in its course, and lingers among the dwellers upon its banks. With the greatest reluctance, as it were, it moves on towards Asphaltites, a lake of a gloomy and unpropitious nature, by which it is, at last, swallowed up, and its bepraised waters are lost sight of on being mingled with the pestilential streams of the lake. For this reason it is that, as soon as ever the valleys through which it runs afford it an opportunity, it discharges itself into a lake, by many writers known as Gennesara, sixteen miles in length and six wide."-PLIN. Hist. nat. 1. v. c. 15. "The waters of the hallowed streams flow upward to their sources, and everything is reversed."-EURIP. Medea, v. 410. "There is a spring in Lycia, near the city of the Xanthians, which, they tell us, at that time turned its course of its own accord, and overflowing its banks, threw up a plate of brass, upon which were engraved certain ancient characters signifying that the Persian empire would one day come to an end, and be destroyed by the Greeks." PLUT. Alex. c. 17. "She was skilled in the magic arts, and the Eaan verses, and could cause the running stream to flow back to its source."-Ov. Amor. 1. 1. eleg. 8. "Arion with his song used to detain the running streams."-Ov. Fast. 1. 11. v. 83. "Streams have run back at murmurs of her tongue, Luc. Phars. 1. vI. v. 472. See notes on Exodus XIV. 16. JOSHUA IV. 5. And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of Jordan, and take you up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel: "Darius on his arrival at the river Artiscus, fixed on a certain spot on which he commanded every one of his soldiers to throw a stone as he passed; this was accordingly done, and Darius having thus raised an immense pile of stones, proceeded on his march.' HDT. 1. IV. c. 92. JOSHUA VI. 4. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. 20. So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. The number seven was looked upon of old as sacred and mysterious: in holy Scripture it is used as an emblem of perfectness or completion, in remembrance of the six days' work of creation, and the seventh day's rest which followed. On this occasion seven priests were to sound seven trumpets on seven successive days, and on the seventh day to compass the city of Jericho seven times. Many other events and mysterious circumstances in the history of the Jews are set forth by the number seven. Gen. XLI. 2., Dan. IX. 24., Rev. I. 4., &c. Hesiod tells us that the seventh day is sacred to Apollo because "On the seventh day, Latona brought forth Apollo with the golden sword." HES. Oper. et dies, v. 769. Apollo, to whom the number seven is sacred."-Escп. Sept. c. Theb. v. 800. "On the first and seventh of every month the Spartans sacrifice, in the temple of Apollo, a perfect animal."-HDT. 1. VI. c. 57. At the first institution of the rites of Apollo, at Delos, it is said that many swans came from the coast of Asia, and went round the island for the space of seven days. "Phoebus' tuneful swans From rich Pactolus and Mæonia's plains, Seven times on snowy pinions, circle round The Delian shores, and skim along the ground." CALLIM. Hymn. in Del. v. 249. Bryant says that this relates to a choir of priests who came over to settle at Delos and who circled the island seven times before landing. It is remarkable that Apollo, to whom this number was sacred, is represented as throwing down by a touch the walls of Troy. "The hosts rush on ; loud clamours shake the shore; The horses thunder, earth and ocean roar ! Apollo, planted at the trench's bound, : Push'd at the bank down sank the enormous mound: A sudden road! a long and ample way. O'er the dread fosse (a late impervious space) Now steeds, and men, and cars, tumultuous pass. And draws imagined houses in the sands, The sportive wanton, pleased with some new play, Sweeps the slight works, and fashion'd domes away: Thus vanish'd at thy touch, the towers and walls; The toil of thousands in a moment falls."-Hoм. Il. 1. xv. v. 353. The following shows that some traditions of the wonderful effect produced by loud shouts had reached the Greeks, and were regarded as hyperbolical :— "When the heralds announced to the Athenians that Philip of Macedon had been vanquished, the shout which they gave in the transport of joy was so prodigions that it was heard as far as the sea. The hyperbolical accounts which have often been given of the effect of loud shouts, was verified on that occasion, for the crows which happened to be flying over their heads fell into the theatre. Perhaps the force of the sound strikes the bird like an arrow, or possibly a circular motion is caused in the air, as a whirlpool is produced in the sea by the agitation of a storm."-PLUT. Flam. c. 10. 26. And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. Such adjurations were not unfrequent among the ancients. Strabo instances Agamemnon and Crœsus. See the fulfilment of this curse 1 Kings XVI. 34. "It is conjectured that those who afterwards proposed to rebuild Troy avoided the spot as inauspicious, either on account of the calamities of which it had been the scene, or because Agamemnon, according to an ancient custom, had devoted it to destruction with a curse; as Croesus, when he had destroyed Sidene, in which the tyrant Glaucias had taken refuge, uttered a curse against those who should rebuild its walls. They therefore abandoned that spot, and built a city elsewhere."-STRAB. 1. XIII. c. 1. "The Tribunes sent colonies to Africa, and set out the place of their habitation among the ruins of Carthage, without consideration that Scipio, when he demolished that city, had decreed it to remain eternally desert, with imprecations against all those who should attempt to rebuild it."-APP. Bell. Civ. 1. I. JOSHUA VII. 19. Joshua said to Achan, My Son. This tender mode of address occurs frequently in Homer. Ulysses is thus styled by Eumæus (Odyss. 1. xvI. v. 61), and by Euryclea (1. XXII. v. 486.) 21. A goodly Babylonish garment. Martial speaks of "The embroidered stuffs of proud Babylon, decorated by the needle of Semiramis." MART. 1. VIII. epig. 28. "The land of Memphis presents this ornamented coverlet. The Babylonian needle is now surpassed by the loom of the Nile."-IBID. 1. XIV. epig. 150. JOSHUA IX. 21. And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them. Although in patriarchal times females of the best families did not think it beneath them to draw and carry water, yet the work of hewing wood and carrying water was regarded by the Hebrews as among the lowest offices of useful service, and was generally committed to slaves and aliens. The water was carried about in skins, concerning which see Job XXXVIII. v. 37, and Ps. CXIX. v. 83. When you get to the country house a single pitcher shall be found you, and a single path, a single spring, a single brass cauldron, and eight casks, and unless these shall be always kept filled I'll load you with lashes. I'll make you so thoroughly bent with carrying water, that a horse's crupper might be manufactured out of you.' PLAUT. Casin. Act. 1. sc. 1. JOSHUA X. 11. And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Beth-horon, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. "When the Persians were on their way to Delphi to spoil the temple, there arose a sudden and incredible tempest of wind and hail, with dreadful thunder and lightning, by which great rocks were rent to pieces and cast upon the heads of the Persians, destroying them by heaps. Those who survived took to flight, terrified by this portent from the immortal gods."-DIOD. SIC. 1. XI. c. 1. Timoleon, in his battle with the Carthaginians, was assisted by a storm of hail. "When the business came to a decision by the sword, where art is no less requisite than strength, all on a sudden there broke out dreadful thunders from the mountains, mingled with long trails of lightning; after which the black clouds, descending from the tops of the hills, fell upon the two armies in a storm of wind, rain, and hail. The tempest was on the backs of the Greeks, but beat upon the faces of the Barbarians, and almost |