13. EXODUS X. And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. "In the spring time the south winds rise high and drive an infinite number of locusts out of the desert, of an extraordinary size: these afford plentiful food for the inhabitants of those parts: the destruction of them is continued for many days together, so that they lie in heaps."-DIOD. SIC. 1. III. c. 2. Strabo also mentions a people of Arabia whose food "Consists of locusts which the south-west and west winds, when they blow violently in the spring time, drive in bodies into the country."—STRAB. 1. XVI. c. 4. "Swarms of locusts are looked upon as a plague inflicted by the anger of the gods; for, as they fly, they appear to be larger than they really are, while they make such a loud noise with their wings that they might be readily supposed to be winged creatures of another species. Their numbers, too, are so vast, that they quite darken the sun; they cover vast tracts of country in clouds which bode destruction to the harvests. Scorching numerous objects by their very contact, they eat away everything with their teeth, even the very doors of the houses. In Syria people are placed under martial law and compelled to kill them: in so many countries does this dreadful pest prevail." PLIN. Hist. nat. 1. xI. c. 35. 19. And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea: there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt. "There is another mode in which these creatures perish; the winds carry them off in vast swarms, upon which they fall into the sea or standing waters." 22. PLIN. Hist. nat. 1. XI. c. 35. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven: and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: 23. They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Not only the Egyptians, but the Ethiopians, Persians, Phoenicians, Syrians, Rhodians, and other nations, esteemed themselves Heliadæ, or descendants of the sun: and they worshipped him both as their sovereign and parent. Homer, who borrowed from Egypt, ascribed to the sun intellect and universal perception. "The sun, who beholds all things and hears all things."-Odyss. 1. XII. v. 108. "The Ethiopians sacrificed to the day."-LUCIAN. de Jove trag. c. 42. "The Arabians worshipped two gods, Coelum and Bacchus. Coelum, or the firmament, because it was visible and contained the stars, but especially the sun, which is of vast and universal benefit to mankind.”—ARR. Exped. Alex. 1. vII. c. 20. 66 Horus, the son of Isis, was the first who sacrificed to the sun. The Egyptians offer three times every day incense and sweet odours to the sun." PLUT. de Isid, et Osirid. c. 52. "Dion, on his march to Syracuse, sacrificed by the river Anapus, addressing his prayers to the rising sun."-IBID. Dion, c. 27. Night also was an object of reverence, as being of the greatest antiquity, and the parent of all things. See Gen. 1. 2. "The Egyptians reverence the blind mouse, because they consider darkness to be more ancient than light."-PLUT. Sympos. 1 IV. qu. 5. EXODUS XI. 6. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. This expression derives peculiar significance from the fact that the Egyptians were given more than any other nation to immoderate weeping and lamentation, both at their funerals and in their religious ceremonies. In the Orphic verses mention is made of "The lamentations of the Egyptians and the sacred libations to Osiris." ORPH. Arg. v. 32. "With respect to their funerals and ceremonies of mourning; whenever a man of any importance dies, the females of his family, disfiguring their heads and faces with dirt, leave the corpse in the house, and run publicly about, accompanied by their female relations, with their garments in disorder, their breasts exposed, and beating themselves severely the men do the same, after which the body is carried to the embalmers." HDT. 1. II. c. 85. "When any of the sacred animals die, the Egyptians wrap them in linen, and with loud howlings beat upon their breasts and so carry them forth to be salted. If one of these creatures is found dead, those who discover it stand at a distance, and with lamentable cries and protestations tell every one that they are innocent of its death." DIOD. SIC. l. I. c. 83. "There are four things for which they make lamentation; the first is the retreating of the waters of the Nile; the second is the north wind, because the south wind overcomes it and prevails against it; the third is the day, because it is shorter than the night; and the fourth is the nakedness of the earth and the falling of the leaves from the trees."-PLUT. de Isid, et Osirid. c. 39. "Xenophanes, the naturalist, seeing the Egyptians at their solemn feasts, beating their breasts and lamenting piteously, admonished them thus: If these are gods whom you honour, lament not for them; but if they are men, do not sacrifice to them." IBID. de Superstit. c. 13. "The god of the Egyptians dies and is wept over; and they show you at the same time his temple and his tomb. Their deity is considered worthy both of honour and of lamentations."-MAX. TYR. Diss. 38. At the festival of Cybele similar howlings and lamentations were customary, derived probably from the Egyptian ceremonies. "She shall be borne on the effeminate shoulders of her companions, carried with loud howlings through the middle of the streets.”—Ov. Fast. 1. IV. v. 185. EXODUS XII. 5. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats. Achilles proposes to propitiate Apollo by the blood "Of lambs or perfect goats."-HOм. 17. 1. 1. v. 66. "Be wise; sacrifice a lamb to the gods, the averters of evil." PERS. Sat. v. v. 167. 7. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side-posts and on the upper door-post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. "If the door-posts are touched with the blood of the hyena, the various arts of the magicians will be rendered of no effect."-PLIN. Hist. nat. 1. XXVII. c. 27. "Massurius informs us that the ancients set the highest value upon the fat of the wolf: and that it was for this reason that the newly-wedded bride used to anoint the door posts of her husband's house with it, in order that no noxious spells might find admittance."-IBID. c 37. 9. The legs, with the purtenance thereof. "One species of sheep of Arabia is remarkable for an enormous length of tail, extending to three cubits, if not more. If they were permitted to trail them along the ground they would certainly ulcerate from the friction; but the shepherds of the country are clever enough to make little carriages on which they secure the tails of the sheep. The tails of the other species are of the size of one cubit."-HDT. 1. III. c. 113. 34. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. 35. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment : 36. And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians. "As a standing proof of the Jews having by robbery supplied themselves with gain, the Jewish bread is still baked without leaven.”—TAC. Hist. 1. v. c. 4. 37. And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. The great increase in the number of the Israelites is partly accounted for by the accounts which have been handed down to us of the extraordinary fecundity of those who drank the water of the Nile. See Exod. i. 7. "Aristotle, the philosopher, relates that in Egypt one woman brought forth five children at a birth."-AUL. GELL. 1. x. c. 2. 39. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not tarry. "The priestess of Tegeæa is said to have offered cakes hastily made with her own hand and baked upon a hurried hearth."-Ov. Fast. 1. vi. v. 531. 51. And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, by their armies. All ancient writers who make mention of the early history of the inhabitants of Palestine concur in the account that they came originally from Egypt. Herodotus, in enumerating the various nations who contributed their forces to the expedition of Xerxes, mentions the Syrians of Palestine, of whom he observes "This people, by their own account, once inhabited the coasts of the Red Sea, but migrated thence to the maritime parts of Syria; all which district, as far as Egypt, is denominated Palestine."-HDT. 1. VII. c. 89. "In ancient times there happened a great plague in Egypt, and many ascribed the cause of it to God, who was offended with them because there were many strangers in the land, by whom foreign rites and ceremonies were employed in their worship of the deity. The Egyptians concluded, therefore, that unless all strangers were driven out of the country, they should never be freed from their miseries. "Upon this, as some writers tell us, the most eminent and enterprising of those foreigners who were in Egypt, and obliged to leave the country, betook themselves to the coast of Greece, and also to other regions; having put themselves under the com mand of proper leaders for that purpose. Some of them were conducted by Danaus and Cadmus, who were the most illustrious of the whole. There were besides these a large but less noble body of people, who retired into the province called now Judæa, which was not far from Egypt, and in those times uninhabited. These emigrants were led by Moses, who was superior to all in wisdom and prowess. He gave them laws, and ordained that they should have no images of the gods; because there was only one deity, the Heaven, which surrounds all things, and is Lord of the whole." DIOD. SIC. 1. XL. apud Photium. Strabo, in his account of Judæa, says it was generally believed that the inhabitants of that country came originally from Egypt; he mentions Moses by name, and gives an account of the Exodus, according to the tradition which prevailed in his day. "These districts (Jerusalem and Joppa) lie towards the north; they are inhabited generally, and each place in particular, by mixed tribes of Egyptians, Arabians, and Phoenicians. Of this description are the inhabitants of Galilee, of the plain of Jericho, and of the territories of Philadelphia and Samaria, surnamed Sebaste by Herod; but though there is such a mixture of inhabitants the report most credited, among many things believed respecting the temple (and the inhabitants) of Jerusalem is, that the Egyptians were the ancestors of the present Jews. An Egyptian priest named Moses, who possessed a portion of the country called the lower Egypt, being dissatisfied with the established institutions there, left it and came to Judæa, with a large body of people who worshipped the Divinity."-STRAB. 1. XVI. c. 2. After speaking of the laws, religious doctrines, and ceremonies introduced by Moses (the notices of which will be quoted under the texts to which they apply) he continues "By such doctrines Moses persuaded a large body of right-minded persons to accompany him to the place where Jerusalem now stands. He easily obtained possession of it, as the spot was not such as to excite jealousy, nor for which there could be any fierce contention, for it is rocky, and although well supplied with water, is surrounded by a barren and waterless territory. The space within (the city) is sixty stadia (in circumference) with rock underneath the surface. "Instead of arms he taught that their defence was in their sacred things and the Divinity, for whom he was desirous of finding a settled place, promising to the people to deliver such a kind of worship and religion as should not burthen those who adopted it with great expense, nor molest them with so called divine possessions, nor other absurd practices. "Moses thus obtained their good opinion, and established no ordinary kind of government. All the nations around willingly united themselves to him, allured by his discourses and promises. "His successors continued for some time to observe the same conduct, doing justly, and worshipping God with sincerity. Afterwards superstitious persons were appointed to the priesthood, and then tyrants. From superstition arose abstinence from flesh, from the eating of which it is now the custom to refrain; circumcision, excision, and other practices which the people observe. The tyrannical government produced robbery, for the rebels plundered both their own and the neighbouring countries. Those also who shared in the government seized upon the property of others, and ravaged a large part of Syria and of Phoenicia. Respect, however, was paid to the Acropolis; it was not abhorred as the seat of tyranny, but honoured and venerated as a temple."-STRAB. 1. XVI. c. 2. "Some assert that Egypt, swarming with people beyond measure, during the reign of Isis, in order to relieve itself, poured a great multitude into the regions adjoining, under the leading of Hierosolymus and Juda."-TAC. Hist. 1. v. c. 2. EXODUS XIII. 21. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night. "Some guardian of the skies involved in clouds protects him." "The goddess, round her, drew A livid cloud."-IBID. 1. XVII. v. 551. Hoм. I. 1. v. v. 185. "I will now explain to you how the king moves forward to battle with the army. He sacrifices first at home to Jupiter the leader, and the other gods; and when he has thus sacrificed, the fire-bearing attendant, taking fire from the altar, leads the way to the borders of the country: the king then again sacrifices to Jupiter and to Minerva. "When they have sacrificed to both these gods, then he passes the boundaries of the country. Fire from these sacrifices, never to be extinguished, leads the way." XEN. Lac. Rep. c. 13. "When Timoleon set sail for Sicily, suddenly the heavens seemed to be rent asunder and to pour upon his ship a bright and spreading flame, which soon formed itself into a torch, such as is used in the sacred mysteries, and having conducted them through their whole course, brought them to that quarter of Italy for which they designed to steer."-PLUT. Timol. c. 8. "Come, then, bright god of day, But, gracious, veil thy shoulders beaming bright, Oh! veil in clouds th' unsufferable light."-HOR. 1. 1. carm. 2. "The signal for marching was given by huge torches, raised upon a lofty pole, so as to be seen by all: the fire of these was visible by night, and the smoke during the day."-Q. CURT. 1. v. c. 2. "This was the order of march. The fire, which they called sacred and eternal was borne in advance upon an altar of silver. The magi followed, singing a hymn." IBID. 1. III. c. 3. When Æneas was escaping from Troy, and knew not which way to turn, suddenly "There shot a streaming lamp along the sky, VIRG. En. 1. II. v. 693. 13. EXODUS XIV. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. "When the multitude of the Jews were all swept away together out of Egypt and were carried into the immense deserts and there abandoned, whilst all continued wailing with astonishment and despair, Moses, one of the exiles, exhorted them to entertain no hope of relief from gods or men, since both by gods and men they had been forsaken, but to trust in himself as in a leader sent from heaven, by whose aid they |