Lions are not now to be found in Syria; but ancient writers attest their former existence both in that country and in Mesopotamia

"A lion of extraordinary size being about to approach the king, Lysimachus prepared to cast his javelin at the beast; but the king commanded him to refrain, and added that a lion might be killed by his hands unassisted, as well as by Lysimachus. For Lysi machus had, on a former occasion, slain a lion of unusual size when hunting in Syria, but had been severely wounded by the animal in the shoulder, and had nearly died of the injury. The king, referring to this adventure, made good his boast; for he not only received no wound, but slew the lion with a single blow."-Q. CURT. 1. vIII. c. 1.

"A lion laid low in the vast vale of Nemea, fame trumpeted abroad as a noble exploit worthy of Hercules."-MART. de Spect. epig. 6.

8. Behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.

Numberless instances are recorded by ancient writers of the generation of bees in the putrid carcases of animals. Contrary to this is the assertion of Aristotle that→ "Bees never light upon anything that is putrid, but seek sweet things." ARISTOT. de hist, anim. 1, Iv. c. 8.

"The Amathusians took the head of Onesilus, and carrying it back in triumph, fixed it over their gates. Some time afterwards, when the inside of the head was decayed, a swarm of bees settling in it, filled it with honey."-HDT. 1. v. c. 14.

"A serpent having been seen winding round the cross on which Cleomenes was crucified, the Alexandrians crowded to the place and called Cleomenes a hero, a son of the gods, till the philosophers put a stop to their devotion, by assuring them that as dead oxen breed bees, horses wasps, and beetles arise out of the putrifaction of asses, so human carcasses, when some of the moisture of the marrow is evaporated and it comes to a thicker consistence, produce serpents."-PLUT. Cleomen. c. 39.

Virgil describes the method adopted in Egypt for reproducing a swarm of bees :-
"A steer of two years old they take, whose head
Now first with burnish'd horns begin to spread;
They stop his nostrils, while he strives in vain
To breathe free air, and struggles with his pain.
Knock'd down he dies; his bowels bruised within,
Betray no wound on his unbroken skin.
The tainted blood, in this close prison pent,
Begins to boil, and through the bones ferment,
Then (wondrous to behold) new creatures rise,
A moving mass at first, and short of thighs;
"Till, shooting out with legs, and imp'd with wings,
The grubs proceed to bees with pointed stings.'

"Behold a prodigy! for from within

The broken bowels, and the bloated skin,
A buzzing noise of bees his ears alarms :

VIRG. Georg. IV. v. 287.

Straight issue through the sides assembling swarms.
Dark as a cloud they make a wheeling flight,

Then on a neighb'ring tree, descending, light:

Like a huge cluster of black grapes they show,

And make a large dependence from the bough."—IBID. v. 554.

"Dost thou seek to know by what art thou may'st recover thy bees? Bury in the earth the carcase of a slaughtered ox: he when so buried will supply what thou desirest. The shepherd performs his commands. The swarms throng from the putrefying ox. The death of a single being has produced a thousand new lives."-Ov. Fast. 1. 1. v. 376. "Some persons say that if a swarm of bees is entirely lost, it may be replaced by the aid of the belly of an ox, newly killed, covered over with dung. Virgil also says that this may be done with the body of a young bull, in the same way that the carcase of a horse produces wasps and hornets."-PLIN. Hist. nat. 1. xI. c. 23.

12. And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of gar

ments:

13. But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it.

14. And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle.

Instances of such enigmas are to be found in the heathen authors. That of the Sphinx is notorious.

"The Sphinx, a double-shaped monster, came to Thebes and put forth a riddle to be resolved by any that could; which none being able to do by reason of the difficulty of the thing, she destroyed many. At length she became more moderate, and offered as a reward to any one who should discover it, that he should marry Jocasta, and enjoy the kingdom of Thebes. The riddle propounded was this-What creature is there that is twofooted, three-footed, and four-footed? When all others were puzzled, Edipus interpreted it to be a man, who, when he is an infant creeps upon all fours; when he grows older walks upright upon two feet; and when he is aged leans upon a staff for his support. The Sphinx, on hearing this answer, threw herself headlong from the top of the rock."

DIOD. SIC. 1. IV. c. 4.

DAMETAS: Say, where the round of Heav'n, which all contains,
To three short ells on earth our sight restrains?
Tell that, and rise a Phoebus for thy pains.

MENALCAS: Nay, tell me first, in what new region springs

A flower that bears inscribed the names of kings?
And thou shalt gain a present as divine

As Phoebus' self: for Phyllis shall be thine."

VIR. Ecl. III. v. 104.

A twelve-days' feast is mentioned by Statius at the marriage of Adrastus' daughter:

"The thirteenth rising sun had view'd

Their banquets ended."-Theb.. 1. II. v. 306.

JUDGES XV.

4. And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands,

and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two

tails

5. And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.

Ulysses, a man of many wiles, is called by Cassandra Aaμroupís, or Fire-tail; in allusion to the prevalent idea that fires were often caused by animals, and particularly by foxes. The Romans had a feast called Volpinalia, when they offered sacrifices to Ceres, the patron goddess of grain; and on this occasion foxes, with firebrands attached to their tails, were let loose in the circus, in retaliation of the injuries supposed to be inflicted upon the growing crops by these animals.

"MICARCHUS: This wick might set fire to the dock-yard.

DICEOPOLIS: A wick to the dockyard! how?

MICARCHUS: A Boeotion might stick it in a tom-tailor (a water-spider) and send it into the dock-yard through a sewer, having watched for a mighty wind. And if the fire were once to catch the ships they would be immediately in a blaze."-ARISTOPH. Acharn. v. 917.

"I must teach the reason why the she-foxes were let loose, having their tails burning with fire brands fastened to them. A boy once having caught a fox, wrapped her in stubble and hay, and set fire to her she escaped from his hands as he was applying the fire; wherever she flew she set the fields in a blaze, at that time covered with the harvest: the breeze gave strength to the all-consuming flames. The occurrence has long passed away, but the recollection of it remains.-Ov. Fast. 1. IV. v. 681.

The following is related by Quintilian, in his Institutes, (1. II. c. 17,) as well as by Livy :

"Hannibal having taken a number of oxen at Casilinum, gave orders that fire should be set to their horns, and that they should be driven violently up the mountain in front; when their own fright, occasioned by the flame blazing on their heads, together with the heat which soon penetrated to the quick, and to the roots of the horns, drove them on as if goaded by madness. By their spreading about in this manner all the bushes were quickly in a blaze, just as if fire had been set to the woods and mountains, and the fruitless tossing of their heads serving to increase the flames, they afforded an appearance as of men running up and down on every side. The enemy fled at the sight, and Hannibal led his whole army through the defile."-Liv. 1. XXII. c. 17.

"Let dry branches and faggots be fastened to the horns of the cattle and ignited, that the animals, being goaded by the pain, may rush hither and thither, and spread the conflagration over the hills."-SIL. ITAL. 1. VII.

"I sent out oxen to spread the fire over the country from their burning horns."

IBID. 1. XII.

19. But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof En-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.

Plutarch says :—

"The Jews honour the ass; because that animal once led them to a spring of water at a time when they were in great distress."-PLUT. Sympos. 1. IV. qu. 5.

Tacitus also relates that the Israelites were led to a spring of water by a flock of wild asses. See Exod. XVII. 6. It must be observed, however, that the marginal reading in this place is "that was in Lehi," and the word Lehi may be understood to signify, not the jaw bone, but the name of the place where Sampson was.

JUDGES XVI.

6. And Delilah said to Sampson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. 7. And Sampson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. 8. Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

9. Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Sampson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.

The ghost of Atrides warns Ulysses,

"Warn'd by my ills, beware (the shade replies),
Nor trust the sex that is so rarely wise;

When earnest to explore the secret breast,

Unfold some trifle; but conceal the rest."-Hoм. Odyss. 1. II. v. 440.

"It is said that Hercules, when about to be sacrificed in Egypt, suffered himself to be bound with the sacred fillet, and for awhile restrained himself. He then exerted his usual strength and put all his opponents to death. But how could Hercules, an individual, and as they themselves affirm, a mortal, be able to destroy many thousands of men."-HDT. 1. II. c. 45.

17. That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

We are reminded here of the story of Nisus, king of Megara, whose life depended upon the lock of golden or purple hair which grew upon the top of his head, and who was betrayed by his own daughter;

"On whose grey head a lock of purple hue,

The strength and fortune of his kingdom grew."

Scylla, the daughter of Nisus, moved by her love for Minos, who was at that time besieging Megara, seeks to betray her father, and tells her lover

At length

"My sole obstruction is my father's hair;
His purple lock my sanguine hope destroys,
And clouds the prospect of my rising joys.'

"The hour was come, when man's o'er-laboured breast
Surceased its care, by downy sleep possess'd;

All things now hush'd, Scylla with silent tread,
Urged her approach to Nisus' royal bed.
Then, of the fatal lock (accursed theft!)
She her unwitting father's head bereft."

This she carries to Minos and addresses him

"This purple lock, a pledge of love receive;
No worthless present, since in it I give
My father's head.”—OVID. Met. 1. viii. v. 8.

The poets carry the story beyond the death of Nisus, and pretend that both the king and his daughter were metamorphosed, the former into a hawk, the latter into a lark, which are constantly at war with each other.

"Tow'ring aloft, a slaying Nisus flies,

While, scar'd, below the guilty Scylla lies.
Wherever frighted Scylla flies away,

Swift Nisus follows, and pursues his prey:

Where injured Nisus takes his airy course,

Thence trembling Scylla flies, and shuns his force.

This punishment pursues th' unhappy maid,

And thus the purple hair is dearly paid."-VIRG. Georg. l. 1. v. 404.

21. But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

To grind corn for another, which was done with a hand mill, was a work usually committed to women. See Job. xxxi. 10. It was also a common punishment of slaves and others in the public prisons.

"Full fifty handmaids form the household train;
Some turn the mill, or sift the golden grain."

HOм. Odyss. 1. vii. v. 104.

"I'll have you beat to mummy, and then thrown
In prison, Sirrah! upon this condition,
That when I take you out again, I swear

To grind there in your stead."-TER. Andr. Act. I. sc. 2.

30. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his

death were more than they which he slew in his life.

So great a destruction by the effort of one man, or by the fall of a single building, has been thought impossible: but the event is not without its parallel in ancient history. "Cleomenes, a man of gigantic strength and size, entered a school-room at Rome, where he struck the pillar that supported the roof with his fist, and broke it asunder, so that the roof fell in, and destroyed the children."-PLUT. Rom. c. 38.

"Not long before the great sea-fight, the roof of a building fell in on some boys at school, so that of 120 children, only one escaped."—HDT. 1. VI. c. 27.

"One Atilius had undertaken to erect an amphi-theatre at Fidena, there to exhibit a combat of gladiators. It fell, and the spectators were crushed and buried under the ruins. Fifty thousand persons were destroyed or maimed by the fall of this building." TAC. Ann. 1. IV. c. 62. Suetonius gives a similar account, but fixes the number of persons injured at twenty thousand. (Tiber. c. 40.)

JUDGES XX.

16. Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded: every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.

The sling was used by many ancient nations in war, but not at a very early period by the Greeks, for Homer makes no mention of it. The Balearians, inhabitants of Majorca and Minorca, were celebrated for their skill with this weapon, in which they seem to have rivalled the lefthanded slingers mentioned in the text. See notes on 1 Sam. XVII. 49.

Gelon says to the Greeks, who applied to him for help against Xerxes :"I am ready to send to your assistance (among other troops) two thousand slingers."-HDT. 1. VII. c. 158.

Eschylus gives evidence that the sling was not unknown to the Greeks in his days:

"In the rich house her treasures Plenty pours;

Comes Sloth, and from her well-pois'd sling

Scatters the piled-up stores."-ÆSCн. Agam. v. 1010.

When the Peloponnesians were attacking Stratus, the capital of Acarnania, "The Acarnanians harassed them excessively by slinging at them continually from a distance."-THUCYD. 1. II. c. 81.

"Hannibal sent into Africa eight hundred and seventy Balearic slingers."

LIV. 1. XXI. c. 21.

"There are two of the Baleares (Majorca and Minorca), one larger and more powerful in men and arms than the other. The Baleareans use no other weapons than slings, in the skilful employment of which they excel all others."-IBID. 1. xxvIII. c. 37.