k

vellers, these cruel weapons are not yet laid aside by some barbarous tribes. The negroes in the countries of Bornou and Soudan fight with poisoned arrows; the arrow is short and made of iron; the smallest scratch with it causes the body to swell, and is infallibly mortal, unless counteracted by an antidote known among the natives. Every where, the poison used for this inhuman purpose was of the deadliest kind; and the slighest wound was followed by almost instant death. From this statement it will appear, that arrows were by no weans contemptible instruments of destruction, although they are not to be compared with the tremendous inventions of modern warfare. We are not therefore to be surprised that so many striking allusions to the arrow, and the trodden bow, occur in the loftier strains of the inspired writers. The bitter words of the wicked are called "their arrows;" "their teeth are spears and arrows;" and the man that beareth false -witness against his neighbour, is "a sharp arrow." But in these comparisons there is perhaps a literal meaning, which supposes a connection between the mouth and the arrow. The circumstance related by Mr. Park might possibly have its parallel in the conduct of the ancients; and if it had, clearly accounts for such figures as have been quoted. "Each of the negroes took from his quiver a handful of arrows, and putting two between his teeth, and one in his bow, waved to us with his hand to keep at a distance."1

Some are of opinion, that "the fiery darts," concerning which the apostle Paul warned his Ephesian converts, allude to the poisoned arrows, or javelins, which were so frequently used in those times; others contend, that the al* Burckhardt's Trav. p. 486. 1 Trav. in Africa, p. 99.

lusion is made to those missile weapons, which were sometimes employed by the ancients in battles and sieges, to scatter fire in the ranks, or among the dwellings of their enemies. These were the rugoga Beλn of Arrian, and the wugPoga aço of Thucydides, the heads of which were surrounded with combustible matter, and set on fire, when they were launched against the hostile army.m

The lightning and other meteors, are, by a very beautiful figure of speech, called in Scripture the arrows of the Almighty. In the ninety-first psalm, it evidently denotes the pestilence. "Thou shalt not be afraid --- for the arrow that flieth by day," explained in the next clause, "nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon day." The pestilence (757) having received its commission from God, flies like an arrow from the bow of the mighty, with amazing swiftness and force, to the destined victim, and none is able to avoid or resist the blow. The Arabs employ the same figure to denote the pestilence: "Is not," said Solyman, "the pestilence God's arrow, which will always hit the mark ?" The Turks, like their emperor, thinking it absurd to fly from the ravages of the plague, demand in similar terms," Is not the plague the dart of Almighty God? And can we escape the blow he aims at us? Is not his hand steady to hit the person he aims at? Can we run out of his sight, or beyond his power?" But the exposition of this text rests upon higher authority than theirs; the Spirit of God himself, applies the term to signify the famine, the wild beast, and the pestilence, "When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their distruction---So will I send upon

" Arrian de Exped. Alex. lib. ii. Thucydides, lib. ii, c. 75.

you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee.""

But one of the most common missiles in primitive battles was the large stone. Thus in Homer, the commanderin-chief of the Grecian forces, after he had put his enemies to flight, pursued them with stones :

Αυταρ ότων άλλων επεπωλείτο είχας ανδρων,

Εγχεϊ τ', αορι τε, μεγάλοισι τε χερμαδίοισιν

I. lib. xi, 1. 264.

In the fifth book, Diomedes knocks down Æneas with the same rude weapon, and broke his leg. Ajax and Hector encountered each other in the same way; and the latter had his buckler shivered to pieces with a stone, scarce inferior in size to a millstone. In one of their battles the stones flew as thick on both sides as flakes of snow in the depth of winter.P

This statement shews, that the hints given by the inspired writers concerning the use of such weapones in Palestine, have nothing in them absurd or ridiculous, as they perfectly agree with the custom of ancient warriors in other parts of the world. The Hebrews appear to have attacked one another very often with these weapons, for in the Mosaic code we find this law: "If men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keep his bed; if he rise again and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed." "And if he smite him with throwing a stone, wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.”

n Ezek. v, 16, 17. See Taylor's Calmet, vol. iii.

• See also Æn. lib. xii, 1. 906. Potter's Gr. Antiq. vol. ii, p. 46.

r Iliad. lib. xii, 1. 287. J 4 Exod. xxi, 18. r Numb, xxxv, 17.

Thus Shimei discovered the furious malignity of his heart, when he supposed the affairs of his sovereign were irre

trievably ruined: "He cast the servants of king David ;"

stones at David, and at all and the Jews testified their

indignation at the reply of our Saviour in the same way: They took up stones to cast at him."t This conduct was evidently the relic of a very ancient custom, which had gradually fallen into disuse, as the policy and conduct of the warrior improved, till among the Jews at least, it was confined to the movements of private rage or popular fury. But the use of stones in war was not entirely laid aside, till many ages after the days of Homer; the defenders of besieged places rolled them down with ter rible effect upon the heads of their enemies; and in the field, projected them from engines of different kinds. Among these instruments of destruction, the most common was the sling."

This weapon was managed with great art and dexterity by the natives of the Balearean islands, and by the Achaians in Greece. They discharged bullets of various kinds, as arrows, stones, and plummets of lead, some of which weighed not less than an Attic pound, or an hundred drachms. After whirling it two or three times about their head, they disengaged the bullet with so great force, that neither head-piece, buckler, nor any other armour was a sufficient defence against it; and so vehement was its motion, that (as Seneca reports) the plummets were frequently melted. The arms, says Polybius, which the Achaians chiefly used, were slings. They were trained to the art from their infancy, by slinging from a great distance, at a circular mark of a moderate circumference. By long

V

2 Sam. xvi, 6. ̧ t John viii, 59.

" Potter's Gr. Antiq. vol. ii, p. 48.

▾ Ibid. p. 50.

practice they took so nice an aim, that they were sure to hit their enemies, not only on the head, but on any part of the face they chose." The Benjamites appear to have attained a degree of skill and accuracy not inferior to the Achaians; for the sacred historian states, that "they could sling stones to an hair's breadth, and not miss."* Seven hundred men of this tribe, says our version, were left-handed; the text should rather be rendered, ambidexters, for in the first book of Chronicles it is said; "The men of Benjamin could use both the right hand and the left:" that is, they did not constantly use their right hand as others did, when they shot arrows or slung stones, but were so expert in their military exercises, that they could perform them with equal ease and certainty with their left hand as with their right.

When the Hebrews were besieged by their enemies, they erected engines on their towers and bulwarks, to shoot arrows and hurl stones; and when they sat down before a place with the view of besieging it, they dug trenches, they drew lines of circumvallation; they built forts and made ramparts; they cast up mounts on every side, and planted battering rams upon them, to breach the walls, and open a way into the city. These engines, it is probable, bore some resemblance to the balistæ and catapultæ of the Romans, which were employed for throwing stones and arrows, and were in reality, the mortars and carcasses of antiquity. Josephus asserts, that Uzziah the king of Judah taught his soldiers to march in battalia, after the manner of the Macedonian phalanx, arming them with swords, targets, and corslets of brass, with arrows and darts. He also provided a great number of engines to batter cities, and to shoot stones and darts, * Judg. xx, 16.

W P. 125.