Page images
PDF
EPUB

"Cease not to pray to the gods; and ask particularly for wisdom, a sound mind and health of body." - SENEC. Epist. 10.

"We ought to pray that we may have a sound mind in a sound body."

"Nothing is more excellent in man than sense and reason.

has all things."-MENANDER.

Juv. Sat. x. v. 356. He who possesses this

"Who ever thanked the gods that he was a good man? We thank them, indeed, for riches, health and honour. For these we invoke the all-good and all-powerful Jupiter but not for wisdom, temperance and justice." - CIC. de nat. Deor. 1. III. c. 36.

23. Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.

24. And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.

25. And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.

26. Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.

27. Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it; she is the mother thereof.

"A woman refusing to acknowledge her own son, and there being no clear proof on either side, Claudius obliged her to confess the truth by ordering her to marry the young man." - SUETON. Claud. c. 15.

"Galba, when sitting in judgment, a cause being brought before him about some beast of burden, the ownership of which was claimed by two persons, the evidence being slight on both sides, and it being difficult to come at the truth, he ordered the beast to be led to the pond at which he used to be watered, with his head muffled up, and the covering being there removed, that he should be the property of the person whom he followed of his own accord, after drinking." -SUET. Galba, c. 7.

28. And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.

"Calliope alone with kings majestical
Walks; whomsoever of the race of kings,
The foster-sons of Jove, Jove's daughters will
To honor, on whose infant head, when first
Usher'd to light, they placid gaze from high,
Upon his tongue they shed a balmy dew;
And words, as honey sweet, drop from his lips.
To him the people look: on him all eyes
Wait awful, who, distinguishing the laws,
Gives upright judgments; he, haranguing firm,
With prudence makes the strife on th' instant cease
When mightiest. Lo! in this are kings discreet;
That in their judgment-halls, they from the oppress'd
Turn back the tide of ills, retrieving wrongs
With mild accost of soothing eloquence.
Him, when he walks the city-ways, all hail
With a bland worship, as he were a god:

And in the great assembly first is he." -HES. Theogon. v. 80.

1 KINGS IV.

13. Threescore great cities, with walls and brasen bars.

"Are the gates fastened with bars, and is the brazen bolt fitted to the stonework

of Amphion's wall ?"--EURIP. Phœniss. v. 114.

21. They brought presents.

A different thing from paying tribute, as in the following examples :

"The Carians formerly were islanders in subjection to Minos and called Leleges. But I do not, after the strictest examination, find that they ever paid tribute. They supplied Minos, as often as he requested, with a number of vessels." - HDT. 1. 1. c. 171.

"During the reign of Cyrus, and, indeed, of Cambyses, there were no specific tributes; but presents were made to the sovereign." - IBID. 1. ш. с. 89.

26. And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

"Three hundred chariots afford three hundred combatants, and these require twelve hundred horses." -XEN. Cyrop. 1. VI. c. 1.

30. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.

"The king Rhampsinitus considered the Egyptians superior in subtlety to all the world; but he thought this man, who had played him a clever trick, superior even to the Egyptians."-HDT. 1. II. с. 122.

"The Eleans boasted that the establishment of the Olympic games possessed every excellence, and was not surpassed even by the Egyptians, though the wisest of mankind."- IBID. c. 160.

"Solon said that on his arrival at Sais, in Egypt, he was very honourably received ; and especially on his inquiry about ancient affairs of those priests who possessed superior knowledge in such matters, he perceived that neither himself nor any of the Greeks, (so to speak) had any antiquarian knowledge at all." -PLAT. Timæus, c. 3.

See Acts VII. 22.

1 KINGS V.

9. My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me, and wilt cause them to be discharged there.

"Material for building towers and rafts was brought down from Mount Lebanon." Q. CURT. 1. IV. c. 2.

1 KINGS VI.

38. So he was seven years in building it.

"The temple of Diana took one hundred and twenty years in building a work in which all Asia joined." -PLIN. Hist. nat. 1. XXXVI. c. 21.

"The largest pyramid is built of stone, quarried in Arabia. Three hundred and sixty thousand men were, it is said, employed upon it for twenty years: and the three pyramids were completed in seventy-eight years and four months." - IBID. c. 17.

P

1 KINGS VII.

15. For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about.

"Among the various offerings which adorned and enriched the temple of Hercules, I saw two pillars; the one was of purest gold, the other of emerald, which in the night diffused an extraordinary splendour."-HDT. 1. II. c. 44.

1 KINGS IX.

16. For Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had gone up and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon's wife.

Agamemnon offers his daughter to Achilles, not only without stipulating for the usual dower, but undertaking to provide the same himself.

"I ask no present, no reward for love,

Myself will give the dower-so vast a store
As never father gave a child before;

Seven ample cities shall confess his sway." - Hом. 11. 1. ix. v. 141.

See Gen. xXXIV. 12. 1. Sam. XVIII. 25.

26. And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

27. And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.

The Phoenicians, who occupied a narrow strip of land on the coast of Syria, were always celebrated as a maritime people. Tyre was a colony of the Sidonians, and became subsequently their chief city.

"Necho, king of Egypt, despatched some vessels under the conduct of Phœnicians, with directions to pass by the columns of Hercules, and after penetrating the northern ocean to return to Egypt."-HDT. 1. IV. c. 42.

"Myiandros, a city near the sea, is inhabited by Phoenicians. It is a mercantile town, and many merchant vessels lay at anchor there." -XEN. Anab. 1. 1. c. 4.

"The hardy sons of Tyre, who love to brave

The unknown dangers of th' Atlantic wave." -ARAT. Phænom. v. 41.

1 KINGS X.

1. And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions.

Semiramis was the first queen that we read of in profane history. Justin supposes her to have obtained the crown by a deceit upon her people, by whom she was mistaken for her son Ninyas; but Diodorus says that Ninus appointed her to be queen at his death. When Binothris was king of This, there was a law made (about A.M. 2232) that females should not be excluded from the throne as they had been previously. Whenever queens reigned they presided also in religion, and were priestesses to their people, as kings were priests. (See Gen. XIV. 18.) Shuckford's remark on this subject claims to be repeated. here, the justice of it being confirmed in an extraordinary degree by the experience of our own times: "Divine Providence has generally distinguished the reigns of queens with uncommon glory to themselves and happiness to their people, of which both our own and the history of other nations afford almost as many instances as there have been queens upon their thrones."

"A golden bowl that shone with gems divine,

The queen (Dido) commanded to be crown'd with wine,

The bowl that Belus used and all the Tyrian line.

Then, silence through the hall proclaim'd, she spoke:

'O hospitable Jove! we thus invoke,

With solemn rites, thy sacred name and power;

Bless to both nations this auspicious hour!'

The goblet then she took, with nectar crown'd,

And sprinkled the libations on the ground."-VIRG. An. 1. 1. v. 732.

The same Dido gives directions

"Go, Barce, call my sister. Let her care

The solemn rites of sacrifice prepare.

The sheep and all th' atoning offerings bring,
Sprinkling her body from the crystal spring
With living drops: then let her come; and thou
With sacred fillets bind thy hoary brow.

Thus will I pay my vows to Stygian Jove." - IBID. 1. IV. v. 632.

The Sabæans dwelt in Arabia, and their country was called by Orientalists the kingdom of the South (see Matt. XII. 42), because their country bordered on the southern ocean, for which reason also it is described as "the uttermost part of the earth." Eutropius tells us that in this country women occupy the throne as well as men. The hard questions were probably such riddles as those noticed at Judges XIV. 12. Josephus records a trial of wisdom in solving such questions between Hiram, king of Tyre, and Solomon, the condition being that he who could not solve the enigmas which the other proposed should forfeit a sum of money. Hiram was beaten in the trial, and paid accordingly. Possibly the six score talents of gold (ch. ix. 14) had some connection with this history.

"Aristippus having heard from Ischomachus of the wisdom of Socrates, could have no rest till, having sailed to Athens, with wonderful thirst and ardour he had drunk from the fountain, and had heard the man himself, and his language and philosophy." PLUT. de Curiosit. c. 2.

"If any came to Socrates seeking pretty speeches or little theorems, he brought him to Protagoras or to Hippias." -ЕРІСТЕТ. 1. III. с. 5.

"Have you never heard of the Spaniard who came from the uttermost part of the globe, instigated by the fame of Titus Livius, and as soon as he had seen him, went back again?"-PLIN. Epist. 1. II. ер. 3.

Hard questions were often proposed to the wise men of the East, and sometimes under hard conditions. The Gymnosophists, so called from their going about naked, were a sect of Indian philosophers, who appear to have delighted in such exercises. The following is an example of them :

"In the course of his expedition into India, Alexander took ten of the Gymnosophists. As these ten were reckoned the most acute and concise in their answers, he put the most difficult questions to them that could be thought of, and at the same time declared he would put the first person that answered wrong to death, and after him all the rest. The oldest man among them was to be judge.

He demanded of the first, 'Which were the most numerous, the living or the dead?' He answered, 'The living, for the dead no longer exist.' The second was asked, 'Whether the earth or the sea produce the largest animals?'

He answered, 'The earth, for the sea is part of it.'

The third, 'Which was the craftiest of all animals?' 'That,' said he, 'with which man is not yet acquainted '-meaning himself.

The fourth, What was his reason for persuading Sabbas to revolt?' 'Because,'

said he, 'I wished him either to live with honour, or to die as a coward deserves.'

1 KINGS VII.

15. For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about.

"Among the various offerings which adorned and enriched the temple of Hercules, I saw two pillars; the one was of purest gold, the other of emerald, which in the night diffused an extraordinary splendour." - HDT. 1. п. с. 44.

1 KINGS IX.

16. For Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had gone up and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon's wife.

Agamemnon offers his daughter to Achilles, not only without stipulating for the usual dower, but undertaking to provide the same himself.

"I ask no present, no reward for love,

Myself will give the dower-so vast a store
As never father gave a child before;

Seven ample cities shall confess his sway."-Ном. 11. 1. IX. v. 141.

See Gen. xxXIV. 12. 1. Sam. XVIII. 25.

26. And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

27. And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.

The Phoenicians, who occupied a narrow strip of land on the coast of Syria, were always celebrated as a maritime people. Tyre was a colony of the Sidonians, and became subsequently their chief city.

"Necho, king of Egypt, despatched some vessels under the conduct of Phœnicians, with directions to pass by the columns of Hercules, and after penetrating the northern ocean to return to Egypt." - HDT. 1. IV. c. 42.

"Myiandros, a city near the sea, is inhabited by Phoenicians. It is a mercantile town, and many merchant vessels lay at anchor there." -XEN. Anab. 1. 1. c. 4.

"The hardy sons of Tyre, who love to brave

The unknown dangers of th' Atlantic wave." -ARAT. Phænom. v. 41.

1 KINGS X.

1. And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions.

Semiramis was the first queen that we read of in profane history. Justin supposes her to have obtained the crown by a deceit upon her people, by whom she was mistaken for her son Ninyas; but Diodorus says that Ninus appointed her to be queen at his death. When Binothris was king of This, there was a law made (about A.M. 2232) that females should not be excluded from the throne as they had been previously. Whenever queens reigned they presided also in religion, and were priestesses to their people, as kings were priests. (See Gen. XIV. 18.) Shuckford's remark on this subject claims to be repeated.

« PreviousContinue »