Judg 14-15 | Clarke | e4.org | CHAPTER XIV Samson marries a wife of the Philistines , 1-4. Slays a young lion at Timnath, in the carcass of which he afterwards finds a swarm of bees , 5-9. He makes a feast; they appoint him thirty companions, to whom he puts forth a riddle, which they cannot expound , 10-14. They entice his wife to get the interpretation from him; she succeeds, informs them, and they tell the explanation , 15-18. He is incensed, and slays thirty of the Philistines , 19, 20. NOTES ON CHAP. XIV Verse 1. Went down to Timnath ] A frontier town of the Philistines, at the beginning of the lands belonging to the tribe of Judah , ; but afterwards given up to Dan, . David took this place from the Philistines, but they again got possession of it in the reign of Ahaz, .

‏ Judges 14

CHAPTER XIV

Samson marries a wife of the Philistines, 1-4.

Slays a young lion at Timnath, in the carcass of which he afterwards finds a swarm of bees, 5-9.

He makes a feast; they appoint him thirty companions, to whom he puts forth a riddle, which they cannot expound, 10-14.

They entice his wife to get the interpretation from him; she succeeds, informs them, and they tell the explanation, 15-18.

He is incensed, and slays thirty of the Philistines, 19, 20.

NOTES ON CHAP. XIV

Verse 1. Went down to Timnath] A frontier town of the Philistines, at the beginning of the lands belonging to the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:57; but afterwards given up to Dan, Jos 19:43. David took this place from the Philistines, but they again got possession of it in the reign of Ahaz, 2Ch 28:18.

Verse 3. Is there never a woman] To marry with any that did not belong to the Israelitish stock, was contrary to the law, Ex 34:16; De 7:3. But this marriage of Samson was said to be of the Lord, Jud 14:4; that is, God permitted it, (for in no other sense can we understand the phrase,) that it might be a means of bringing about the deliverance of Israel.

For she pleaseth me well.] ki hi yisherah beeynai, for she is right in my eyes. This is what is supposed to be a sufficient reason to justify either man or woman in their random choice of wife or husband; the maxim is the same with that of the poet:-

"Thou hast no fault, or I no fault can spy;

Thou art all beauty or all blindness I."

When the will has sufficient power, its determinations are its own rule of right. That will should be pure and well directed that says, It shall be so, because I WILL it should be so. A reason of this kind is similar to that which I have seen in a motto on the brass ordnance of Lewis XIV., ULTIMA RATIO REGUM, the sum of regal logic; i.e., "My will, backed by these instruments of destruction, shall be the rule of right and wrong." The rules and principles of this logic are now suspected; and it is not likely to be generally received again without violent demonstration.

Verse 5. A young lion roared against him.] Came fiercely out upon him, ready to tear him to pieces.

Verse 6. He rent him as he would have rent a kid] Now it is not intimated that he did this by his own natural strength, but by the Spirit of the Lord coming mightily upon him: so that his strength does not appear to be his own, nor to be at his command; his might was, by the will of God, attached to his hair and to his Nazarate.

Verse 7. And talked with the woman] That is, concerning marriage; thus forming the espousals.

Verse 8. After a time] Probably about one year; as this was the time that generally elapsed between espousing and wedding.

A swarm of bees and honey in the carcass] By length of time the flesh had been entirely consumed off the bones, and a swarm of bees had formed their combs within the region of the thorax, nor was it an improper place; nor was the thing unfrequent, if we may credit ancient writers; the carcasses of slain beasts becoming a receptacle for wild bees. The beautiful espisode in the 4th Georgic of Virgil, beginning at ver. 317, proves that the ancients believed that bees might be engendered in the body of a dead ox:-

Pastor Aristaeus fugiens Peneia Tempe___

Quatuor eximios praestanti corpore tauros

Ducit, et intacta totidem cervice juvencas.

Post, ubi nona suos Aurora induxerat ortus.

Inferias Orphei mittit, lucumque revisit.

Hic ver o subitum, ac dietu mirabile monstrum

Adspiciunt, liquefacta bourn per viscera toto

Stridere apes utero, et ruptis effervere costis;

Immensasque trahi nubes, jamque arbore summa

Confluere, et lentis uvam demittere ramis.

VIRG. Geor. lib. iv., ver. 550.

"Sad Aristaeus from fair Tempe fled,

His bees with famine or diseases dead___

Four altars raises, from his herd he culls

For slaughter four the fairest of his bulls;

Four heifers from his female store he took,

All fair, and all unknowing of the yoke.

Nine mornings thence, with sacrifice and prayers,

The powers atoned, he to the grove repairs.

Behold a prodigy! for, from within

The broken bowels, and the bloated skin,

A buzzing noise of bees his ears alarms,

Straight issuing through the sides assembling swarms!

Dark as a cloud, they make a wheeling flight,

Then on a neighbouring tree descending light,

Like a large cluster of black grapes they show,

And make a large dependance from the bough.

DRYDEN.

Verse 10. Samson made there a feast] The marriage feast, when he went to marry his espoused wife.

Verse 11. They brought thirty companions] These are called in Scripture children of the bride-chamber, and friends of the bridegroom. See the whole of this subject particularly illustrated in the observations at the end, Clarke "Joh 3:25".

Verse 12. I will now put forth a riddle] Probably this was one part of the amusements at a marriage-feast; each in his turn proposing a riddle, to be solved by any of the rest on a particular forfeit; the proposer forfeiting, if solved, the same which the company must forfeit if they could not solve it.

Thirty sheets] I have no doubt that the Arab hayk, or hake, is here meant; a dress in which the natives of the East wrap themselves, as a Scottish Highlander does in his plaid. In Asiatic countries the dress scarcely ever changes; being nearly the same now that it was 2000 years ago. Mr. Jackson, in his account of the Empire of Morocco, thus mentions the Moorish dress: "It resembles," says he, "that of the ancient patriarchs, as represented in paintings; (but the paintings are taken from Asiatic models;) that of the men consists of a red cap and turban, a (kumja) shirt, which hangs outside of the drawers, and comes down below the knee; a (caftan) coat, which buttons close before, and down to the bottom, with large open sleeves; over which, when they go out of doors, they throw carelessly, and sometimes elegantly, a hayk, or garment of white cotton, silk, or wool, five or six yards long, and five feet wide. The Arabs often dispense with the caftan, and even with the shirt, wearing nothing but the hayk." When an Arab does not choose to wrap himself in the hayk, he throws it over his left shoulder, where it hangs till the weather, &c., obliges him to wrap it round him. The hayk is either mean or elegant, according to the quality of the cloth, and of the person who wears it. I have myself seen the natives of Fez, with hayks, or hykes, both elegant and costly. By the changes of garments, it is very likely that the kumja and caftan are meant, or at least the caftan; but most likely both: for the Hebrew has chaliphoth begadim, changes or succession of garments. Samson, therefore, engaged to give or receive thirty hayks, and thirty kumjas and caftans, on the issue of the interpretation or non-interpretation of his riddle: these were complete suits.

Verse 14. And he said unto there] Thus he states or proposes his riddle:-

Out of the eater came forth meat, And out of the strong came forth sweetness.

Instead of strong, the Syriac and Arabic have bitter. I have no doubt that the riddle was in poetry; and perhaps the two hemistichs above preserve its order. This was scarcely a fair riddle; for unless the fact to which it refers were known, there is no rule of interpretation by which it could be found out. We learn from the Scholiast, on Aristophanes, Vesp. v. 20, that It was a custom among the ancient Greeks to propose at their festivals, what were called γριφοι, griphoi, riddles, enigmas, or very obscure sayings, both curious and difficult, and to give a recompense to those who found them out, which generally consisted in either a festive crown, or a goblet full of wine. Those who failed to solve them were condemned to drink a large portion of fresh water, or of wine mingled with a sea-water, which they were compelled to take down at one draught, without drawing their breath, their hands being tied behind their backs. Sometimes they gave the crown to the deity in honour of whom the festival was made: and if none could solve the riddle, the reward was given to him who proposed it.

Of these enigmas proposed at entertainments &c., we have numerous examples in ATHENAEUS, Deipnosoph, lib. x., c. 15, p. 142, edit. Argentorat., and some of them very like this of Samson for example:-

διδουςτιςουκεδωκενουδεχωνεχει

"Who gives, and does not give?

Who has not, and yet has?"

This may be spoken of an enigma and its proposer: he gives it, but he does not give the sense; the other has it, but has not the meaning.

εστιφυσιςθηλειαβρεφησοζουσυποκολποις

αυτηςταυταδαφωναβοηνιστησιγεγωνον

καιδιαποντιονοιδμακαιηπειρουδιαπασης

οιςεθελειθνητωντοιςδουπαρεουσιςακουειν

εξεστικωφηνδακοηςαισθησινεχουσιν

"There is a feminine Nature, fostering her children in her bosom; who, although they are dumb, send forth a distinct voice over every nation of the earth, and every sea, to whom soever they please. It is possible for those who are absent to hear, and for those who are deaf to hear also."

The relator brings in Sappho interpreting it thus:-

θηλειαμενουνεστιφυσιςεπιστολη

βρεφηδεναυτηπεριφερειταγραμματα

αφωναδονταταυτατοιςπορρωλαλει

οιςβουλεθετεροςδαντυχητιςπλησιον

εστωςαναγινωσκοντοςουκακουσεται

"The Nature, which is feminine, signifies an epistle; and her children whom she bears are alphabetical characters: and these, being dumb, speak and give counsel to any, even at a distance; though he who stands nigh to him who is silently reading, hears no voice."

Here is another, attributed by the same author to Theodectes:-

τηςφυσεωςοσαγαιαφερειτροφοςουδοσαποντος

ουτεβροτοισινεχειγυιωναυξησινομοιαν

αλλενμενγενεσειπρωτοσπορωεστιμεγιστη

ενδεμεσαιςακμαιςμικραγηραδεπροςαυτω

μορφηκαιμεγεθειμειζωνπαλινεστιναπαντων

"Neither does the nourishing earth so bear by nature, nor the sea, nor is there among mortals a like increase of parts; for at the period of its birth it is greatest, but in its middle age it is small, and in its old age it is again greater in form and size than all."

This is spoken of a shadow. At the rising of the sun in the east, the shadow of an object is projected illimitably across the earth towards the west; at noon, if the sun be vertical to that place, the shadow of the object is entirely lost; at sunsetting, the shadow is projected towards the east, as it was in the morning towards the west.

Here is another, from the same author:-

εισικασιγνηταιδιτταιωνημιατικτει

τηνεπεραναυτηδετεκουσυποτησδετεκνουται

"There are two sisters, the one of whom begets the other, and she who is begotten produces her who begat her."

Day and night solve this enigma.

The following I have taken from Theognis:-

ηδηγαρμεκεκληκεθαλαττιοςοικαδενεκρος

τεθνηκωςζωωφθεγγομενοςστοματι

THEOGN. Gnom., in fine.

"A dead seaman calls me to his house;

And, although he be dead, he speaks with a living mouth."

This dead seaman is a conch or large shellfish, of which the poet was about to eat. The mouth by which it spoke signifies its being used as a horn; as it is well known to produce, when opened at the spiral end and blown, a very powerful sound.

Verse 17. And she wept before him] Not through any love to him, for it appears she had none, but to oblige her paramours; and of this he soon had ample proof.

Verse 18. If ye had not ploughed with my heifer] If my wife had not been unfaithful to my bed, she would not have been unfaithful to my secret; and, you being her paramours, your interest was more precious to her than that of her husband. She has betrayed me through her attachment to you.

Calmet has properly remarked, in quoting the Septuagint, that to plough with one's heifer, or to plough in another man's ground, are delicate turns of expression used both by the Greeks and Latins, as well as the Hebrews, to point out a wife's infidelities.

Thus Theognis, Gnom. v. 581:-

εχθαιρωδεγυναικαπεριδρομονανδρατεμαργον

οςτηναλλονριηνβουλεταρουραναρουν

"I detest a woman who gads about, and also a libidinous man, who wishes to plough in another man's ground."

Fundum alienium arat, incultum familiarem deserit.

PLAUTUS.

"He ploughs another's farm, and leaves his own heritage uncultivated."

Milo domi non est, perepre at Milone profecto Arva vacant, uxor non minus inde parit.

MARTIAL.

"Milo is not at home, and Milo being from home, his field lies uncultivated; his wife, nevertheless, continues to breed, and brings forth children."

There is the same metaphor in the following lines of Virgil:-

Hoc faciunt, nimo ne luxu obtusior usus, Sit genitali arvo, sulcosque oblimet inertes.

Geor. l. iii., v. 135.

In this sense Samson's words were understood by the Septuagint, by the Syriac, and by Rabbi Levi. See BOCHART, Hierozoic. p. 1., lib. ii., cap. 41., col. 406.

The metaphor was a common one, and we need seek for no other interpretation of the words of Samson.

Verse 19. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him] "The spirit of fortitude from before the Lord."-Targum. He was inspired with unusual courage, and he felt strength proportioned to his wishes.

He-slew thirty men-and took their spoils] He took their hayks, their kumjas, and caftans, and gave them to the thirty persons who, by unfair means, had solved his riddle; thus they had what our version calls thirty sheets, and thirty changes of raiment. See Clarke on Jud 14:12.

Verse 20. But Samson's wife was given to his companion] This was the same kind of person who is called the friend of the bridegroom, Joh 3:29. And it is very likely that she loved this person better than she loved her husband, and went to him as soon as Samson had gone to his father's house at Zorah. She might, however, have thought herself abandoned by him, and therefore took another; this appears to have been the persuasion of her father, Jud 15:2. But her betraying his secret and his interests to his enemies was a full proof he was not very dear to her; though, to persuade him to the contrary, she shed many crocodile tears; see Jud 14:16. He could not keep his own secret, and he was fool enough to suppose that another would be more faithful to him than he was to himself. Multitudes complain of the treachery of friends betraying their secrets, &c., never considering that they themselves have been their first betrayers, in confiding to others what they pretend to wish should be a secret to the whole world! If a man never let his secret out of his own bosom, it is impossible that he should ever be betrayed.

‏ Judges 15

CHAPTER XV

Samson, going to visit his wife, finds her bestowed on another,

1, 2.

He is incensed, vows revenge, and burns the corn of the Philistines, 3-5.

They burn Samson's wife and her father, 6.

He is still incensed, makes a great slaughter among them, 7, 8.

The Philistines gather together against Israel, and to appease them the men of Judah bind Samson, and deliver him into their hands, 9-13.

The Spirit of the Lord comes upon him; he breaks his bonds, finds the jaw-bone of an ass, and therewith kills a thousand

men, 14-16.

He is sorely fatigued; and, being thirsty, God miraculously produces water from an opening of the ground in Lehi, and he is refreshed, 17-19.

He judges Israel in the time of the Philistines twenty years,

20.

NOTES ON CHAP. XV

Verse 1. Visited his wife with a kid] On her betraying him, he had, no doubt, left her in great disgust. After some time his affection appears to have returned; and, taking a kid, or perhaps a fawn, as a present, he goes to make reconciliation, and finds her given to his brideman; probably, the person to whom she betrayed his riddle.

Verse 2. Thou hadst utterly hated her] As he was conscious she had given him great cause so to do.

Her younger sister] The father appears to have been perfectly sincere in this offer.

Verse 4. Went and caught three hundred foxes] There has been much controversy concerning the meaning of the term shualim, some supposing it to mean foxes or jackals, and others handfuls or sheaves of corn. Much of the force of the objections against the common version will be diminished by the following considerations:-

1. Foxes, or jackals, are common and gregarious in that country.

2. It is not hinted that Samson collected them alone; he might have employed several hands in this work.

3. It is not said he collected them all in one day; he might have employed several days, as well as many persons, to furnish him with these means of vengeance.

4. In other countries, where ferocious beasts were less numerous, great multitudes have been exhibited at once. Sylla, in a public show to the Roman citizens, exhibited one hundred lions; Caesar, four hundred, and Pompey, nearly six hundred. The Emperor Probus let loose in the theatre, at one time, one thousand ostriches, one thousand stags, one thousand wild boars, one thousand does, and a countless multitude of other wild animals; at another time he exhibited one hundred leopards from Libya, one hundred from Syria, and three hundred bears.-See Flavius Vopiscus in the Life of Probus, cap. xix., beginning with Dedit Romanis etiam voluptates, &c.

That foxes, or the creature called shual, abounded in Judea, is evident from their frequent mention in Scripture, and from several places bearing their name. 1. It appears they were so numerous that even their cubs ruined the vineyards; see Canticles: So 2:15: Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil our vines. Jeremiah complains that the foxes had occupied the mountains of Judea, La 5:18. They are mentioned as making incursions into enclosures, &c., Ne 4:3. Ezekiel compares the numerous false prophets to these animals, Eze 13:4. In Jos 15:28 we find a place called Hazar Shual, "the court of the foxes:" and in Jos 19:42 a place called Shaal-abbin, "the foxes;" no doubt from the number of those animals in that district. And mention is made of the land of Shual, or of the fox, 1Sa 13:17.

The creature called shual is represented by travellers and naturalists who have been in Judea as an animal between a wolf and a fox. Hasselquist, who was on the spot, and saw many of them, calls it the little Eastern fox. They are frequent in the East, and often destroy infirm persons and children.

Dr. Kennicott, however, objects to the common interpretation; and gives reasons, some of which are far from being destitute of weight. "The three hundred foxes," says he, "caught by Samson, have been so frequently the subject of banter and ridicule, that we should consider whether the words may not admit a more rational interpretation: for, besides the improbability arising here from the number of these foxes, the use made of them is also very strange. If these animals were tied tail to tail, they would probably pull contrary ways, and consequently stand still; whereas a firebrand tied to the tail of each fox singly would have been far more likely to answer the purpose here intended. To obviate these difficulties it has been well remarked, that the word shualim, here translated foxes, signifies also handfuls, Eze 13:19, handfuls of barley; if we leave out that one letter vau, which has been inserted or omitted elsewhere, almost at pleasure. No less than seven Hebrew MSS. want that letter here, and read shealim. Admitting this version, we see that Samson took three hundred handfuls or sheaves of corn, and one hundred and fifty firebrands; that he turned the sheaves end to end, and put a firebrand between the two ends in the midst; and then, setting the brands on fire, sent the fire into the standing corn of the Philistines. The same word is now used twice in one chapter, (Eze 13:4, 19;) in the former verse signifying foxes, in the latter handfuls: and in 1Ki 20:10, where we render it handfuls, it is αλωπεξι, foxes, in the Greek version."-Remarks on Select Passages.

The reasoning of Dr. Kennicott in the first part of this criticism has already been answered; other parts shall be considered below. Though there are seven MSS., which agree in the reading contended for by Dr. Kennicott, yet all the versions are on the other side. I see no improbability in the common version.

Turned tail to tail] Had he put a firebrand to each, which Dr. Kennicott thinks more reasonable, the creature, naturally terrified at fire, would have instantly taken to cover, and thus the design of Samson would have been frustrated. But, tying two of them together by their tails, they would frequently thwart each other in running, pull hither and thither, and thus make the greater devastation. Had he tied them all together, the confusion would have been so great that no execution could have been done.

Verse 6. Burnt her and her father] This was probably done to appease Samson: as they saw he had been unjustly treated both by his wife and her father; therefore they destroyed them both, that they might cause his wrath to cease from them. And this indeed seems intimated in the following verse: And Samson said-Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you; that is, I am not yet satisfied: ye have done me great wrongs, I must have proportionate redress; then I shall rest satisfied.

Verse 8. He smote them hip and thigh] This also is variously understood; but the general meaning seems plain; he appears to have had no kind of defensive weapon, therefore he was obliged to grapple with them, and, according to the custom of wrestlers, trip up their feet, and then bruise them to death. Some translate heaps upon heaps; others, he smote horsemen and footmen; others, he wounded them from their legs to their thighs, &c., &c. See the different versions. Some think in their running away from him he kicked them down, and then trod them to death: thus his leg or thigh was against their hip; hence the expression.

The top of the rock Etam.] It is very likely that this is the same place as that mentioned 1Ch 4:32; it was in the tribe of Simeon, and on the borders of Dan, and probably a fortified place.

Verse 10. To bind Samson are we come up] It seems they did not wish to come to an open rupture with the Israelites, provided they would deliver up him who was the cause of their disasters.

Verse 11. Three thousand men of Judah went] It appears evidently from this that Samson was strongly posted, and they thought that no less than three thousand men were necessary to reduce him.

Verse 12. That ye will not fall upon me yourselves.] He could not bear the thought of contending with and slaying his own countrymen; for there is no doubt that he could have as easily rescued himself from their hands as from those of the Philistines.

Verse 13. They bound him with two new cords] Probably his hands with one and his legs with the other.

Verse 14. When he came unto Lehi] This was the name of the place to which they brought him, either to put him to death, or keep him in perpetual confinement.

Shouted against him] His capture was a matter of public rejoicing.

Verse 15. He found a new jaw-bone of an ass] I rather think that the word teriyah, which we translate new, and the margin moist, should be understood as signifying the tabia or putrid state of the ass from which this jawbone was taken. He found there a dead ass in a state of putrefaction; on which account he could the more easily separate the jaw from its integuments; this was a circumstance proper to be recorded by the historian, and a mark of the providence of God. But were we to understand it of a fresh jaw-bone, very lately separated from the head of an ass, the circumstance does not seem worthy of being recorded.

With the jaw-bore of an ass, heaps upon heaps] I cannot see the propriety of this rendering of the Hebrew words bilchi hachamor, chemor chamorathayim; I believe they should be translated thus:-

"With the jaw-bone of this ass,

an ass (the foal) of two asses;

"With the jaw-bone of this ass

I have slain a thousand men."

This appears to have been a triumphal song on the occasion; and the words are variously rendered both by the versions, and by expositors.

Verse 17. Ramath-lehi.] The lifting up or casting away of the jaw-bone. Lehi was the name of the place before, Ramath was now added to it here; he lifted up the jaw-bone against his enemies, and slew them.

Verse 18. I die for thirst] The natural consequence of the excessive fatigue he had gone through in this encounter.

Verse 19. God clave a hollow place that was in the jaw]

asher ballechi, that was in Lehi; that is, there was a hollow place in this Lehi, and God caused a fountain to spring up in it. Because the place was hollow it was capable of containing the water that rose up in it, and thus of becoming a well.

En-hakkore] The well of the implorer; this name he gave to the spot where the water rose, in order to perpetuate the bounty of God in affording him this miraculous supply.

Which is in Lehi unto this day.] Consequently not IN the jaw-bone of the ass, a most unfortunate rendering.

Verse 20. He judged Israel-twenty years.] In the margin it is said, He seems to have judged southwest Israel during twenty years of their servitude of the Philistines, Jud 13:1. Instead of esrim shanah, twenty years, the Jerusalem Talmud has arbaim shanah, forty years; but this reading is not acknowledged by any MS. or version. According to Calmet, the twenty years of the judicature of Samson began the eighteenth year of the subjection of Israel to the Philistines; and these twenty years are included in the judicature of the high priest Eli.

THE burning of the Philistines' corn by the means of foxes and firebrands is a very remarkable circumstance; and there is a story told by Ovid, in the 4th book of his Fasti, that bears a striking similitude to this; and is supposed by some learned men to allude to Samson and his foxes. The poet is at a loss to account for this custom, but brings in an old man of Carseoli, with what must have appeared to himself a very unsatisfactory solution. The passage begins as follows:-

Tertia post Hyadas cum luxerit orta, remotas, Carcere partitos Circus habebit equos Cur igitur missae vinctis ardentia taedis

Terga ferant vulpes, causa docenda mihi?

Vid. OVID, Fastor. lib. iv., ver. 679.

The substance of the whole account, which is too long to be transcribed, is this: It was a custom in Rome, celebrated in the month of April to let loose a number of foxes in the circus, with lighted flambeaux on their backs; and the Roman people took pleasure in seeing these animals run about till roasted to death by the flames with which they were enveloped. The poet wishes to know what the origin of this custom was, and is thus informed by an old man of the city of Carseoli: "A frolicksome young lad, about ten years of age, found, near a thicket, a fox that had stolen away many fowls from the neighbouring roosts. Having enveloped his body with hay and straw, he set it on fire, and let the fox loose. The animal, in order to avoid the flames, took to the standing corn which was then ready for the sickle; and the wind, driving the flames with double violence, the crops were everywhere consumed. Though this transaction is long since gone by, the commemoration of it still remains; for, by a law of this city, every fox that is taken is burnt to death. Thus the nation awards to the foxes the punishment of being burnt alive, for the destruction of the ripe corn formerly occasioned by one of these animals."

Both Serrarius and Bochart reject this origin of the custom given by Ovid; and insist that the custom took its rise from the burning of the Philistines' corn by Samson's foxes. The origin ascribed to the custom by the Carseolian they consider as too frivolous and unimportant to be commemorated by a national festival. The time of the observation does not accord with the time of harvest about Rome and in Italy, but it perfectly accords with the time of harvest in Palestine, which was at least as early as April. Nor does the circumstance of the fox wrapped in hay and let loose, the hay being set on fire, bear any proper resemblance to the foxes let loose in the circus with burning brands on their backs.

These learned men therefore conclude that it is much more natural to suppose that the Romans derived the custom from Judea, where probably the burning of the Philistines' corn might, for some time, have been annually commemorated.

The whole account is certainly very singular, and has not a very satisfactory solution in the old man's tale, as related by the Roman poet.

All public institutions have had their origin in facts; and if, through the lapse of time or loss of records, the original facts be lost, we may legitimately look for them in cases where there is so near a resemblance as in that above.