Hesiod, after describing the giant Typhœus, says:- Trembled Olympus, groan'd the steadfast earth. Now when the god, the fulness of his might HES. Theog. v. 836. "We ought not to describe in fables......... the battles of the giants, and other many and various feuds, both of gods and heroes." -PLAT. de rep. 1. II. c. 17. "The so-called Titanic contest." - IBID. 1. III. c. 16. "Vain of strength that heav'n itself had giv'n, The Titans, impious brood, disparag'd heav'n: APOL. RHOD. Arg. 11. v. 481. "Tow'ring in horrid strength the monarch stood, Produc'd, to wage presumptuous war with Jove." IBID. 1. II. v. 38. "Attend to the Syrian story, and the battle of the gods."-MAX. TYR. diss. 29. "'Gainst Zeus in vain proud Salmoneus strove; Struck by the smoking bolt he headlong fell, Who dared to imitate the gods above." -LUCIAN. Tragopod. v. 312. "The Titans, who rebelled against the heavenly deities."-CIC. de leg. 1. III. c. 2. "Here (in Tartarus) I beheld the ancient offspring of the earth, the Titan race, cast down by bolts from heaven." -VIRG. An. 1. VI. v. 582. "Our folly would attempt the skies, And with gigantic boldness, impious rise."-HOR. 1. 1. carm. 3. "The fierce Titanian brood Whose horrid youth, elate with impious pride, And shook the throne of Jove, and bade the Thunderer fear." "Nor were the gods themselves secure above; Against beleaguer'd heav'n the giants move: IBID. 1. III. carm. 4. D Hills piled on hills, on mountains mountains lie, T' avenge with thunder their audacious crime." -Ov. Metam. 1. 1. v. 151. "The earth brought forth her savage offspring, huge monsters, giants who would dare to attempt an entrance into the palace of Jove. A thousand hands she gave them, and serpents instead of legs; and she said, 'Take up your arms against the great gods.' These were preparing to pile up the mountains to the highest stars, and to provoke the mighty Jupiter to battle. Jove, hurling his thunderbolts from the heights of heaven, overturned the vast piles on those who had formed them."-IBID. Fast. 1. v. v. 35. "Eternal realms are provided for the gods at a costly price, and heaven could only obey its own Thunderer after the wars of the raging giants." -LUCAN. Phars. 1. 1. v. 35. 9. Therefore is the name of it called Babel, because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. Epiphanius and other writers say that at Babel there was an universal change of language, and that seventy-two new tongues arose, according to the number of mankind, or of families, at that period. On this account, he says, they had the name of Meropes (from μερίζω I divide, and of the voice), because their speech was divided. author of the Chronicon Paschale also, and many other writers who take notice of the name Meropes, and its origin, suppose that it related to the dispersion. The "Troy, the city of Meropian, or voice-dividing men."-Ном. П. 1. xx. v. 217. Alcyon at Phlegra, who was in size equal to a mountain." "A Titanian damsel, a daughter of Merops." -EURIP. Helena. v. 387. The Coan isle." - CALLIM. Hymn. in Delon. v. 160. "Euripides, in his Phaeton, says that Clymene was given 'To Merops, sovereign of that land, The rising sun strikes with his golden rays; And which its swarthy neighbours call Here the poet merely describes them as the common stables of the morning and of the sun; but further on he tells us they were near to the dwellings of the Merops." STRAB. 1. 1. c. 2. Ælian says there is in Mauritania "A race of people called Meropians." -ÆL. Var. Hist. 1. III. c. 18. The above quotations will show how widely the Meropes or Titanians were driven. A distinction is made by many ancient writers between their language and that of the nations among whom they were scattered. The Titanian or Amonian tongue is called the language of the gods; and is opposed to that of men, which was the language of Japhet or of Javan. "The hundred-handed, Whom the gods called Briareus; but Men Ægæon."-Ном. Il. 1. 1. v. 402. IBID. 1. II. v. 813. "The gods call this the tomb of Myrinna; but men call it Bateia." IBID. 1. XIV. v. 291. "Doves (Peliades) so called by men." -HES. Fragm. GENESIS XIII. 8. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. "Tis dreadful for words and strife to happen between brothers, when they fall into dispute." - EURIP. Iph. in Aul. v. 376. "What is more infamous than want of friendship between brothers?" XEN. Cyrop. 1. VII. c. 7. 10. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. 11. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan. "The spot on which Jerusalem was built is not such as to excite jealousy, nor for which there could be any fierce contention; for it is rocky, and though well supplied with water, it is surrounded by a barren and waterless territory."-STRAB. 1. XVI. c. 2. 16. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. "In number more Than dust in fields, or sand along the shore."-Ном. 11. 1. ix. v. 385. GENESIS XIV. 9. Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar.. This Chedorlaomar must have been Ninyas, the son of Ninus and Semiramis. Amraphel was his deputy at Babylon in Shinaar, and Arioch and Tidal his deputies over some other countries. Ctesias, from whom the profane historians took the names of these kings, did not use the original names in his history, but rather such as he found in the Persian records, or such as the Greek language offered instead of them. Ninyas was the first who appointed deputies under him; and these deputies were called kings, as the Assyrian himself boasted in the days of Isaiah, "Are not my princes altogether kings?"-(Is. x. 8.) "Ninyas, that he might reign the more securely and be feared of all his subjects .........appointed over every country a governor such as he could most confide in, and who would be most devoted to him."-DIOD. SIC. 1. II. с. 22. 18. And Melchizedeck king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. The office of king and priest was generally united in the earliest ages. Ном. Odyss. 1. III. v. 444. "Sethos, king of Egypt, was a priest of Vulcan." - HDT. 1. п. с. 141. the gods, and general in what regards men." -XEN. Lac. Rep. c. 13. "In the time of the heroes, the custom was for one and the same person to be general of the forces, judge, and high priest."-ARISTOT. Polit. 1. 1. "In old times, kings themselves performed the most and the greatest of the sacred rites."-PLUT. Quæst. Rom. с. 63. "When Agis, king of the Lacedemonians, neglected to offer the sacrifice usual on occasion of victory, the Polemarchs set a fine upon him."-PLUT. Lycurg. c. 12. "The king always offered sacrifice to the Muses before a battle." IBID. c. 21. 20. IHe gave him tithes of all. "His whole array the warlike son of Jove, Cræsus recommends Cyrus PIND. Olymp. ΧΙ. v. 51. "Let your soldiers stop the plunderers of Sardis with their booty, and bid them assign as a reason that one-tenth part must be consecrated to Jupiter."-HDT. 1. 1. c. 89. "Each man received his share of the money that had been raised by the sale of the captives, the tenth part of which they consecrated to Apollo, and to Diana of Ephesus."-XEN. Anab. 1. v. c. 3. After the capture of Babylon, "Cyrus, summoning the Magi, commanded them to choose out for the gods the first-fruits of certain portions of ground for sacred use, as out of a city taken by the sword."-XEN. Cyrop. 1. VII. с. 5. After the battle of Coronea, Agesilaus, repairing to Delphi, offered the tenth of his spoils to the gods." -XEN. Hist Græc. 1. IV. с. 3. "Tithes and first-fruits each revolving year CALLIM. H. in Delon. v. 278. "The Carthaginians were accustomed to send to the god (Hercules) a tenth of all their increase." - DIOD. SIC. 1. XX. c. 1. F "For what reason were many rich men accustomed to consecrate to Hercules the tenth part of all their possessions? Was it not because Hercules himself, being at Rome, sacrificed the tenth of the oxen of Geryon."-PLUT. Quæst. Rom. c. 18. "Sylla gave the people a magnificent entertainment on the occasion of his dedicating the tenth of his substance to Hercules." -PLUT. Sylla, c. 35. "Marcus Crassus, though remarkable for his avarice, consecrated the tenth of his substance to Hercules." - PLUT. Crass. c. 2. "I should like to know how much gold my master has taken for himself, and how much he has given up to to his father. If he is a prudent person he has made a Hercules of his parent: he has given him the tenth part, and has kept back nine for himself." PLAUT. Bacch. Act IV. sc. 3. "O Pythian Apollo, under thy guidance and inspired by thy divinity, I am now proceeding to destroy the City of Veii, and I devote to thee the tenth part of the spoil thereof."-LIV. 1. v. c. 21. 22. And Abraham said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, ال 23. That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich. "Marius, before engaging with the Cimbri, having purified, lifted up his hand towards heaven and vowed a hecatomb to the gods; and Catulus, in the same posture, promised to consecrate a temple to the fortune of that day." -PLUT. C. Mar. c. 26. The word thread refers to the garments which were the customary spoils of war, as well as gifts of honour, and which were much coveted. Josh. VII. 21, and 2 Kings v. 5. A similar expression occurs in Menander. "Covet not even a needleful of thread."-MENAND. apud Clem. Alex. Strom. v. GENESIS XV. 17. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. 18. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram. It was customary in ratifying a covenant to cut asunder the animals sacrificed on the occasion, and to pass between the parts; the meaning of which observance was probably-"Thus let me be cut asunder if I violate the oath which I now make in the presence of God:" hence the expression to cut a covenant, &c. "Xerxes commanded the officers to find the eldest son of Pythius and divide his body in two: he then ordered one part of the body to be thrown on the right side of the road, and the other on the left, whilst the army continued their march betwixt them." HDT. 1. VII. с. 39. "The ceremony of the purification of the army, among the Lacedemonians, is thus performed: a dog being cut asunder in the middle, the head, with the forepart and entrails, is laid on the right side of the road, and the hind part on the left. Between the parts of the victim thus divided the forces march under arms. In front of the van are carried the remarkable suits of armour of all the kings of Macedonia, from the remotest origin; next follows the king himself, with his children; then the royal cohort and bodyguards, and the rest of the national troops close the rear."-LIV. 1. XL. c. 6. GENESIS XVI. 1. Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. Dower servants, who were entirely at their mistresses' command, were called φερναὶ whence the latin verna, a slave born in the house. They were also called λάτρις, and their service λατρεία which expressed their entire devotion to their mistress. "CLYTEMNESTRA. I know thee as being a faithful servant to my house. EURIP. Iph. in Aul. v. 868. "Your wife brought her dower-servant with her." -PLAUT. Asin. Act 1. sc. 1. 12. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. The Arabians never were subdued. They did not submit to Alexander the Great; Antigonus attempted to overcome them, but was repulsed. They joined with the Romans or with the Parthians in their wars as they thought fit; but were never conquered by them. Crassus, Pompey, and others, endeavoured to enslave them, but in vain. Severus besieged their city, and was twice repulsed. "The Arabians were never reduced to the subjection of Persia, but were in its alliance: they afforded Cambyses the means of penetrating into Egypt, without which he never could have accomplished his purpose." - HDT. 1. III. c. 88. |