Time with his weary yoke her shoulders bowed, She scarcely rear'd her head amid the crowd, And thus she spake," &c.-APOL. RHOD. Arg. 1. 1. v. 668. "And thou, O matron of immortal fame! Here dying, to the shore hast left thy name: Caieta still the place is call'd from thee, The nurse of great Æneas' infancy."-VIRG. Æn. 1. vII. v. 1. Had good Æneas rais'd a fun'ral flame In honour of his hoary nurse's name. Her epitaph he fixed," &c.-Ov. Metam. 1. XIV. v. 441. 14. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon. "Alexander anointed the pillar upon the tomb of Achilles with oil, and ran round it with his friends naked, according to the custom that obtains; after which he put a crown upon it."-PLUT. Alex. c. 15. See ch. XXVIII. 18. GENESIS XXXVII. 29. And Reuben returned unto the pit: and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. This was a common method of expressing grief. After the defeat of Xerxes,— 66 66 Through the rage of grief His gorgeous vestments from his royal limbs Æmilius, seeing his army in retreat, rent his clothes, as Posidonius tells us." GENESIS XXXIX. PLUT. Emil. Paul. c. 20. 7. And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. The following passage is adduced as evidence of the low state of morality in Egypt: "Pheron, king of Egypt, was blind for the space of ten years. In the eleventh an oracle was communicated to him from Butos, intimating that he should recover his sight by having his eyes washed by a virtuous woman. Pheron first made this experiment with his own wife, and when this did not succeed, he applied to other women indiscriminately. Having at length recovered his sight, he assembled all the women, except her who was the cause of the removal of his calamity, in a city which is to this day called Erythrebolos; all these, with the town itself, he destroyed by fire, but he married the female who had deserved his gratitude."-HDT. 1. II. c. 111. 12. And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and got him out. "Tiberius, when one of his enemies laid hold of his gown, let it go, and continued his flight in his under garment."—PLUT. Tib. Gracch. c. 19. 17. And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me. So Anteia accuses Bellerophon to her husband, king Protus, though he had, in fact, refused her solicitations; and a similar story is told of Peleus and Astydamia. "The fair Anteia, wife of Protus, mad But she prevail'd not o'er the virtuous mind Of late, to force me to his lewd embrace."-Hoм. 77. 1. vI. v. 162. 18. And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled out. Phædra, when her advances have been refused by Hippolytus, makes use of a similar stratagem. "Let us throw back the crime upon him, and accuse him of the infamous attempt. Ho there, Athenians! Help, faithful attendants! Hippolytus offers violence! He is gone, and has left his sword here in his hasty flight. Behold the proof of his guilt!”—SENEC. Hippol. v. 720. "Protus, deceived by his wife, HOR. 1. III. carm. 7. "What did his virtuous resolve avail Hippolytus, or what Bellerophon? Surely she fired at the rejection of her suit, as though treated with indignity. Nor did Sthenoboea burn less fiercely than the Cretan; and both lashed themselves into a fury. A woman is then most ruthless when shame sets sharper spurs to her hate." Juv. Sat. x. 326. GENESIS XL. 8. And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you. The Jews appear to have had some reputation in later times for interpreting dreams. See JOB XXXIII. 15. "Without her badge, a Jewess now draws near, And, trembling, begs a trifle in her ear. No common personage! she knows full well The laws of Solyma, and she can tell The dark decrees of heaven; a priestess she, An hierarch of the consecrated tree! Moved by these claims, thus modestly set forth, She gives her a few coins of little worth; Will sell what fortune, or what dreams you please." Juv. Sat. VI. v. 542. "Ptolemy discovered his night vision to the Egyptian priests, whose profession it is to be skilled in things of this sort.”—Tac. Hist. 1. iv. c. 83. 9. And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me; 10. And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes: 11. And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. "The whole country about the lake Mareia is well inhabited. Good wine also is produced here, and in such quantity that the Mareotic wine is racked in order that it may be kept to be old.”—STRAB. 1. xvII. c. 1. "The arsinoite nome of Egypt produces wine in abundance."-IBID. "The Thasian vines in richer soils abound, The Mareotic grow in barren ground."-VIRG. Georg. 1. II. v. 91. Horace says of Cleopatra : "Her mind inflamed with Mareotic wine.-HOR. 1. 1. carm. 37. "The Sebennys wine is grown in Egypt, being the produce of three varieties of grape of the very highest quality, known as the Thasian, the Aethalus, and the Peuce." PLIN. Hist. nat. 1. XIV. c. 9. 16. When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and behold, I had three white baskets on my head: 17. And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharoah; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head. 18. And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days: 19. Yet within three days shall Pharoah lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee. A similar omen occurs to the suitors before the return of Ulysses, and a similar interpretation of it is given by the augur Halitherses. "Two eagles from a mountain's height, By Jove's command direct their rapid flight; The augur upon this declares : "Destruction sure o'er all your heads impends, Hoм. Odyss. 1. II. v. 146. "The kite ravenous as it is, has never been known to seize any food, either from among funereal oblations or from the altar of Jupiter at Olympia; nor yet, in fact does it ever seize any of the consecrated viands from the hands of those who are carrying them, except when some misfortune is presaged for the town that is offering the sacrifice." PLIN. Hist. nat. 1. x. c. 12. 20. And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharoah's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. Birthdays were very generally celebrated by the ancients with feasting and merrymaking. See Luke xv. 24. "To Phoebus at his birth Rich gifts in honour of the day she brought."-Æscн. Eumen. v.7. "Among all their festivals each individual pays particular regard to his birthday, when they indulge themselves with better fare than usual. The richer among them prepare on this day an ox, a horse, a camel, or an ass, which is roasted whole; the poorer sort are satisfied with a lamb or sheep."--HDT. 1. 1. c. 133. Cyrus says to Astyages, whose intoxication he had witnessed : "When you feasted your friends on your birthday, I perceived that you drank poison."-XEN. Cyrop. 1. 1. c. 3. "Another gift is called for when madam's brought to bed, Another, too, when master's birthday's kept."-TER. Phorm. Act. I. sc. 1. 22. He hanged the chief baker. That is, crucified him. The punishment of the cross was in use among the Egyptians. "Inarus, king of the Libyans, the author of such great commotions in Egypt, was betrayed by treachery, and fastened to a cross."-THUCYD. 1. I. c. 110. GENESIS XLI. 1. And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold he stood by the river. 2. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow. The Egyptians worshipped the river Nile, attributing to it the fertility of the land, and all other benefits. See notes on Exodus vii. 19. This custom prevailed in other countries also, and the divinities of the rivers were generally represented with the heads of cattle, or, at all events, wearing horns. See notes on I Kings, v. 12. "The bull-faced visage of Cephisus."-EURIP. Ion, v. 1261. 3. And behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river. "Should the Nile not have receded twelve cubits in its overflow, famine is the sure result; and this is equally the case if it should chance to exceed sixteen." PLIN. Hist. nat. 1. xvIII. c. 47. 5. And he slept and dreamed a second time. Dreams of supernatural import were in many instances repeated. Cicero, in his story of the two Arcadians says : "Thinking it nothing but an idle dream, he lay down again; but presently the apparition appeared to him again in his sleep."-Cic. de. div. 1. i. c. 27. "A young man of signal beauty appeared to Ptolemy in his sleep, and admonished him to despatch into Pontus, some of his most trusty friends, thence to bring away his statue. Afterwards the same apparition, but more terrible and urgent, appeared again, denouncing certain perdition to his person and monarchy, if its order were not executed." TAC. Hist. 1. iv. c. 83. 45. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zapnath-paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. On was the same as Heliopolis. "Near the apex of the Delta is Heliopolis, situated upon a large mound. It contains a Temple of the Sun, and the Ox Mneyis, which is kept in a sanctuary, and is regarded by the inhabitants as a god, as Apis is regarded by the people of Memphis. It has an ancient temple, constructed after the Egyptian manner. "At Heliopolis we saw large buildings in which the priests lived. For it is said that anciently this was the principal residence of the priests who studied philosophy and astronomy."-STRAB. 1. xvii. c. 1. "There is one place in the interior, in the confines of Arabia, of great celebrity, the city of the sun."-PLIN. Hist. nat. 1. v. c. 11. GENESIS XLII. 6. And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth. The Persian Courtier says to Conon : "As soon as you come in sight of the king you must make obeisance, which they call πрoσкʊvεîν.”-CORN. NEP. Conon, c. iii. "When Alexander entered the room the Persians bowed down before him." QUINT. CURT. 1. viii. c. 5. 18. And Joseph said unto them, the third day, This do and live, for I fear God. Cyrnus, reverence and fear the gods; for this prevents men from doing or saying unholy things."-THEOGN. V. 1179. GENESIS XLIII. 11. And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds: "At Jericho is a palace, and the garden of the balsamum. The latter is a shrub with an aromatic smell."-STRAB. 1. xvi. c. 2. "To all other odours that of balsamum is considered preferable, a plant that has been only bestowed by nature upon the land of Judæa."-PLIN. Hist. nat. l. xii. c. 54. 31. And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread. Festivals for the reconciliation of friends and relatives were held at stated times by the ancients, and called "Caristia :" they are supposed to have originated in the feast, at which Joseph was reconciled to his brethren. "Let men put aside all contentions of every kind on the sacred festivals." |