Ναὶ μὲν καὶ Κρόνου εὔτ ̓ ἂν ἐν οἴκοισιν Κυθέρεια Μητράσι γὰρ σφετέραις φιλοτήσιον ἐς λέχος ἦλθον. And certainly if Venus appear in the houses of Saturn with Jupiter, (Saturn going behind,) taking his contact with beautiful Venus, Mars otherwise bearing witness to Venus, and both Mars and Saturn regarding the Moon; then, indeed, as many as from their birth see the light of morning, shall fulfil the destiny of the miserable Edipus; for infernal furies shall sing their direful nuptials, lighting torches at the fire with their hands: for they came as lovers to the Maternal bed. Let us now turn our attention to the name of Bilhaha. Buxtorf and others bring this word from 7, and make it signify perturbation, celerity, &c.; but I cannot think this derivation just. I have said that Bula is a lunar mansion in Aquarius, according to the Arabians. This has been stated upon the authority of Ulug Beig by several authors, who write the word Bula. Í have not the tables of Ulug Beig now before me, and know not how he wrote the word. In Golius, the orthography is bela— Sad-bela-, and if this be the real orthography, the Hebrew Bilhah and the Arabic bela can have no relation to each other. But I am very much tempted to doubt this orthography. Certainly Giggeius makes bela the stars in Gemini, Castor and Pollux. What is the real derivation of a Bilhah? That derivation from already mentioned is very far from being satisfactory. I have no doubt that is the genuine root. (See Castelli, 354.) Now in many dialects we shall find, that words proceeding from this root relate to moisture, humidity, water, &c. In Arabic J madefecit, humiditas, &c. &c. (Golius, 310). In Hebrew itself, mixtum, potiùs conspersum, (Castelli, 354.) In Ethiopian, a bath, (Ludolf. 181.) In Coptic BHA (BOA) liquescere. BA (EROA) fluere. (Woide, pp. 12 and 13.) From the same root may have come the Greek words Βαλανεὺς, Baλavior; and the Latin balneator and balneum. Again in Persian, if I do not err, l, Bula, signifies a pitcher, an urn, &c. In Hebrew, Syriac, and Chaldaic, the words connected with this root chiefly signify perturbation, mixture, suffusion, &c.; but I do not The reader is requested to consult Golius, p. 319. VOL. V. No. ix. C think that this invalidates my notion concerning the original sense, which I believe to have been water, &c. The day, when the deluge took place, was the 17th of the month Bul. What is the origin of this word? I pretend, that it comes from the root, to which I assign the general signification of moisture, water, &c. Scaliger says, that it is not Hebrew. This may be true, if we do not allow to the word 552, the sense which I think it has. The same Scaliger makes the month Bul correspond with November, and not with October. We should thus get near to the constellation of Capricorn, and consequently to the lunar mansion Bula. I cannot help suspecting, then, that Golius, Kircher, and others, have been misled when they wrote bela. This word signifies to swallow up. The explanation given by Golius does not appear quite satisfactory. This is a name given to two stars in Gemini. Why should these have the same name with an asterism in Aquarius? But if we write the word a bala or a bula, moisture, water, &c., we shall easily comprehend why such a name was given to an asterism in the watery sign of Aquarius. If all that I have stated in the Dissertation be considered, the additional circumstance here mentioned, viz. that Reuben saw Bilhah bathing, will add to the probability of my conjecture. In the discourse of Judah, there are some passages which I cannot understand, without reading them in the tables of the heavens. All the traditions give the sign of Leo to Judah. He is made to say in the book before me; Καὶ ἔδωκέ μοι κύριος χάριν ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔργοις μοῦ, ἔντε τῷ ἀγρῶ καὶ ἐν τῷ οἴκω. Ως εἶδον, ὅτι συνέδραμον τῇ ἐλάφω, καὶ πιάσας αὐτὴν ἐποίησα τῷ πατρί μου βρώμα τὰς δορκάδας ἐκράτουν διὰ τοῦ δρόμου. Καὶ πᾶν ὅτι ἦν ἐν τοῖς πεδίοις, κατελάμβανον φοράδα ἀγρίαν κατέλαβον, καὶ πιάσας ἡμέρωσα, καὶ λέοντα ἀπέκτεινα, καὶ ἀφειλάμην ἔριφον ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ. "Αρκτον λαβὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ ποδὸς, ἀπέλυσα εἰς τὸν κρημνὸν καὶ πᾶν θηρίον, εἰ ἐπέστρεφεν ἐπ ̓ ἐμὲ, διέσπων αὐτὸ, ὡς κύνα. ̓Αγρίω χοίρω συνέδραμον, καὶ προς λαβὼν ἐν τῷ τρέχειν με κατεσπάραξα αὐτόν. Πάρδαλις ἐν Χεβρών προσ επήδησεν ἐπὶ τὸν κύνα, καὶ πιάσας αὐτήν ἀπὸ τῆς οὔρας, απεκόντισα αὐτὴν, καὶ ἐῤῥάγη ἐν τοῖς ὅροις Γάζης. Βοῦν ἄγειον ἐν χώρᾳ νεμόμενον ἐκράτησα τῶν κεράτων, καὶ ἐν κύκλω συσσείσας, καὶ σκοτίσας, ῥίψας ἀνεῖλον αυτον. wild And the Lord gave me grace both in the field and in the house. As indeed, I saw; because I ran with the hind, and seizing her, prepared food for my father. I van quished the goats in the race, and caught every animal in the plains. I caught and tamed the wild mare; and killed the lion, after having delivered the kid from his mouth. Taking the bear by the foot, I threw him over the precipice; and if any beast turned on me, I tore him in pieces as the dog. I ran with the wild boar, and overtaking him in the course, destroyed him. The Panther, in Hebron, leaped on the dog; but having seized him by the tail, I cast him down, and broke him in pieces in the confines of Gaza. I vanquished the horns of the wild bull in the region where he pastured; and whirling him round in a circle, and having blinded him, and having thrown him, I slew him. Leo, according to the traditions, was the symbol of Judah; and if we follow the fixed zodiac, the summer solstice accorded with Leo, when the Patriarchs lived. It was in this sign, therefore, that the Sun came to his highest elevation in the heavens, and then was the celebration of the triumph ascribed by astrologers to the power of the solar orb. It was then that the Sun was feigned and fabled to have vanquished all his opponents. Let us, then, examine whether, or not, Judah were celebrating the solar triumph in the sign, which was the symbol of his tribe. Judah vaunts that he overtook the hind. If this be taken literally, I can bring no authority for Judah's assertion, but the words of the comic writer. At si ad prandium me in ædem vos dixissem ducere, But the hind was a well known type of the Moon, as is evident from the emblems of the Ephesian Diana. Judah seems to allude to the Sun's overtaking the Moon on the 29th day; or, perhaps, he typified the Sothic period. Pighius says, that a stag was the emblem of the summer solstice. (In anni partes mythologia, c. 6.) I vanquished the goats (or kids) in the race. We learn from Hyde, (Hist. Relig. Vet. Pers. p. 390.) that the ancient Persians represented the Twins under the form of two kids: perhaps allusion is made to the constellation which we call Hadi. I caught and tamed the wild mare. This reminds me of the astronomical fable of Bellerophon, also called Hipponous, from being the tamer of horses. He mounted the winged horse Pegasus, which became afterwards a constellation. Its place is immediately over the urn, whence issues the river of Aquarius. Hence the fable of the Greeks concerning the fountain Hippo crene. And killed the lion, after having delivered the kid from his mouth. Hercules, the type of the annual Sun, slew the Nemean lion. A lion was also slain by Samson, and Samson, as every Hebraist knows, signifies, "the Sun"-"the great Sun." The kid here is a male one, but still I think it may be the same with Capella. That a star was called Hœdus by the ancients is undoubted. Purus et Orion, purus et Hœdus erit.----PROPErtius. improvidus Hædus in astris.----MANILIUS. But see the situation of Hircus with the great star Capella placed in the direction of the lion's head. Taking the bear by the foot I threw him over the precipice. Where could Judah have met with a bear, unless it were in the skies? Leo is placed under the foot of the Bear. I ran with the wild boar, &c. Meleager who killed the boar, and Adonis who was killed by the boar, were both solar symbols. The Vara Avatar proves, that the ancient Indians had a similar mythology. The ancient Persians called their duodenary cycle by the names of twelve animals, the last of which was chuk, porcus. The panther in Hebron leaped on the dog. The constellation which we call Lupus, is named Nemer, both by the Arabians and the Syrians. Nemer signifies a panther, or leopard. But when Leo comes to the meridian, Lupus, or Nemer, rises, and the Great Dog then sets. I vanquished the horns of the wild bull-and whirling him round in a circle, &c. See the representations of Mithras slaying the bull, (Hist. Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 113.) and recollect the words -Torquentem cornua Mithra, &c. But I hasten to conclude this article, which I have made too long already; and shall only add, that the symbolical language of the Patriarchs seems to me, at least, to indicate, that they had been accustomed, like other ancient Orientalists, to study astrology, and to read " in the tables of the heavens." P.S. Permit me to take this opportunity of making the following alterations in my Dissertation on the 49th Chapter of Genesis, published in your Sixth Number.-P. 396. For, when the Sun is in the sign of Capricorn," read, "when the sign of Capricorn rises." P. 399. For, " part of Sagittarius," read, "part of the sign of Sagittarius."—Ibid. For "of Scorpius," read, "of the constellation of Scorpius." P. 400. For "Sagittarius,” read "Centaurus." IN Philoctete Sophocleo, vers. 21. rescripsit Brunck juxta Edd. Aldi et Turnebi, et Codd. omnes, Ἴδοις ποτὸν κρηναῖον, εἴπερ ἐστὶ σῶν· pro ng Tì lâ, quod invito metro legebat H. Stephanus. Et forsitan nihil ultra quærendum. Si tamen cui displicet istud wv, legi possit εἴπὲς ἐστὶ νῦν, vel etiam εἴπες ἔστ ̓ ἔτι, ut ζῶν ex Glossatoris manu fuisse existimetur. Ingeniosè conjecit Philo-Sophocleus (CLASSICAL JOURNAL, No. 2.) verba εἴπερ ἐστὶ ζῶν profuxisse ex εἰ στάζον πάρα, i. e. παρέστι. Vers. 22. "Α μοι προσελθὼν σίγα, σήμαιν', εἴτ' ἔχει χῶρον πρὸς αὐτὸν τόνδε γ', εἴτ ̓ ἄλλῃ κυρεῖ. Hæc Porsoni regulæ obnituntur. Et in Censurâ Literariâ (Quarterly "Α μοι προσελθὼν σίγα σημαίνειν ἔχει χῶρον πρὸς αὐτὸν τόνδε γ', εἶτ ̓ ἄλλῃ κυρεῖ. Ut σημαίνειν sit pro Imperativo σήμαινε, et έχει per interrogationem "Α μοι προσελθὼν σίγα σημαινειν, τάχ ̓ εἰ Ἢ φύλλον εἴ τι νώδυνον κάτοιδέ που. Ad hæc verba ita commentatur Brunck. "Philoctete alimentum præbebant aves et feræ quas sagittis configebat. Atqui aves et feræ statis horis ad certa loca se conferre solent. Rectè Scholiastes in Φορβῆς ὁδόν. At Glossator, qui id minus intelligebat, exposuit ἐπὶ ζήτησιν φορβῆς. Hoc ipsum Ulysses dicere debuisse videtur Toupio, qui (Emendat. in Suidam, 3. 336.) reposuit ἢ ἐπὶ φορβῆς μαστόν. Nimis audacter. Hujus formæ verbalia frequentant Ionici poetæ, qualia sunt ἐδητὺς, ὀρχηστὺς, θελκτὺς, πωρητές, et alia, sed Atticis ferè inusitata sunt." Ergò ad mentem Brunckii exiit Philoctetes, ut feris atque avibus certis horis ad certa loca redeuntibus obveniret. At multò simplicior et Sophocli convenientior sensus oritur, legendo, πι ̓Αλλ ̓ ἢ ἐπὶ φορβῆς ἄνυσιν ἐξελήλυθεν, κ. τ. λ. « Sed vel in cibi acquisitionem exiit,” &c. Ita infra, v. 710. πλὴν ἐξ ὠκυβόλων εἴποτε τόξων πτανῶν πτανοῖς V. 106. οὐκ ἆρ ̓ ἐκείνῳ γ ̓ οὐδὲ προσμίξαι θρασύ; Latinè vertunt, "Non quidem ad eum, ne quidem accedere tutum est?" Sed talem usum adjectivi @garès utinam exemplo aliquo confirmavissent viri docti. Locum corruptum esse persuasum habeo, et jamdudum mihi visum est rescribendum esse, οὐκ ἄρ ̓ ἐκείνῳ γ ̓ οὐδὲ προσμίξαι θύρα; Id est, αρά γε οὐκ ἀνοιγομένη ἔστι θύρα οὐδὲ ὥστε τινα προσμίξαι αὐτῷ ; nullus ne ad eum aditus patet? Quibus respondent V.183. οὐ· μὴ δόλῳ λαβόντα, κ. τ. λ. θηρῶν. Stanleius in sch. Sept.Theb. vers. 785. per στικτοὺς θῆρας aves denotari, per λασίους verò feras monet. Ergo vel cum feris vel cum avibus jacebat Philoctetes, non simul cum utroque genere! Miror sanè viros doctos in tam frigida sententia acquievisse. Equidem lego λάσιος, et interpretor, "aut solus in deserto loco jacet, aut cum maculosis feris, ipse |