reclining between two ranges, that is, according to Abarbinel, between two rows of earth so ordered or prepared by way of working and preserving it; for the ass, when relieved from the toils of the day, was not permitted to lay himself down in any house, but was turned aloof to shift for himself in the open air, and could find no better shelter than what is here alluded to. Hence the continuation of the figure in the subsequent member of the sentence; for seeing that rest is good, or, perhaps, that the soil, on which he rests, is good; and that the country is pleasant, he is said to apply his shoulder to carry, that is, to till the land; and, rather than quit his home for military service, to become a tributary subject to the kings of Israel.

The blessing of Dan commences, as usual, with an allusion to the signification of his name, which is, to judge; and therefore he was to exercise judgment among his own people, but only so far as he was one of the tribes; the honor of exercising judgment over all the tribes being conferred upon Judah. He is also spoken of as a warrior, but as much inferior to Judah, as the venom and subtilty of the serpent are inferior to the courage and terror of the lion; and this, I doubt not, gave occasion to that invocation of Jehovah, which immediately follows; for the patriarch, having compared his powers of resisting an enemy with the insidious bite of the serpent, implores on all Israel in his own person the salvation of Jehovah, who is wont to save his people neither by the sword nor by the bow, nor by weapons of any kind, much less by such means as Dan should employ; but by the word of his mouth, and the instrumentality of his angels.

The turn, which is given to the benediction of Gad, is caused wholly by the import of the name; for as Gad denotes a troop, his father tells him, that his enemies should act the part of a troop against him, that is, should commit hostile incursions in his territory; but that he, being equally inured to war, would repay them in kind, and prove conqueror at the last.

ble.

The blessing of Asher requires no comment to render it intelligi

That which is said of Naphtali is uncommon, but thus illustrated by that Argus in biblical interpretation, R. Isaac Abarbinel :

ואמנם נפתלי הוא עובד נאמן כי הוא ישתדל תמיד מצות אדוניו כאילה שלוחה ששולחים עם הבשורות מארץ אל ארץ ומסכים לזה אמר מרעה נפתלי שבע רצון גם נפתלי יהיו ממנו בעלי לשון וצחות ומליצה ועל זה אמר הנותן אמרי שפר והמדות האלו ראוים לעוברי

; But Naphtali is a faithful servant : המלכים לא למלכים עצמם :

for he is always intent on the mandates of his Lord, like the hind dispatched, which they dispatch from country to country with the news. To this agrees the declaration of Moses: Naphtali is full of favor. From Naphtali too there should arise linguists, orators, and interpreters; and, therefore, he says of him; Who affordeth goodly words. But these are such qualifications, as befit the servants of kings only; and not kings themselves.' If to the foregoing exposition it should be objected, that we have no adequate proof of hinds having been sent from country to country in the manner described; I answer, that in the East, it is certain, both birds and animals were used for the purpose of conveying intelligence quickly; and, if we do but regard the velocity of the hind, we must be convinced of the propriety of the emblem, though it should not be demonstrated that this animal in particular was ever so employed. The sort of character too assigned by the patriarch in this place to Naphtali well comports with what we know of the genius and occupation of that distinguished tribe. The inferiority, however, of the blessing to that of Judah is ingeniously pointed out by the illustrious Abarbinel; in that the messengers of kings are always inferior to the kings them

selves.

The benediction of Joseph, though highly important, contains nothing that can be regarded as a subject for controversy. I beg to remark, however, that, in crowning his head with such a plenitude of blessings, the partiality of the father to his favorite child is here finely recognized; and that, if this forty-ninth chapter of Genesis had been a forgery, as Sir William has somewhat insinuated, it were a thousand to one that the writer, whoever he might be, would not have counterfeited nature with such exquisite taste.

Benjamin, by being assimilated to the wolf, is designated a warrior; but unequal to Judah, by how much the wolf is unequal to the lion. That this was the true character of Benjamin is apparent from the scriptures; which abound with relations of his battles and his prowess.

I have now, I presume,illustrated whatever can be deemed obscure in the benediction of Jacob; and, though I have not the vanity to suppose, that Sir William will be induced to abandon an hypothesis of which he himself is the framer, I shall think my labor not unrepaid, if it should be acknowledged by the learned reader, that the constituent parts of the speech have been adequately explained without any regard to the astral zodiac. There is one thing, however, in the last communication of Sir William, which I cannot but notice with marks of disapprobation. It is the assertion, that God did not confound the language of the builders of Babel; but merely distorted the lip, so that they could

not speak plainly. This opinion the author ought, certainly, to have grounded on something like argument.

Hovingham, Dec. 14, 1813.

J. O.

HERODOTUS AMENDED.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL.

I BEG leave to call the attention of your readers to the following passage of Herodotus, which does not seem to have received all the aid, which criticism can afford to it. If my own opinion should fortunately meet with the approbation of the admirers of this captivating historian, I shall think myself amply compensated for my trouble; and if, after having read it, they continue to entertain some doubts about the reading of the passage, I may still hope to be the means of reviving the discussion on it.

EDMUND HENRY BARKER.

Trin. Coll. Cam. Nov. 2, 1813.

Herodotus L. 1. c. 174.

Βουλόμενοι νησὸν τὴν χώρην ποιῆσαι· ἐντὸς δὲ πᾶτά σφι ἐγένετο τῇ γὰρ ἡ Κνιδίη χώρη ἐς τὴν ἤπειρον τελευτᾷ, ταύτῃ ὁ ἰσθμός ἐστι τὸν ὤρυσσον. Καὶ δὴ πολλῇ χειρὶ ἐργαζομένων τῶν Κνιδίων μᾶλλον γάρ τι καὶ θειότερον ἐφαίνοντο τιτρώσκεσθαι οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι τοῦ εἰκότος τά τε ἄλλα τοῦ σώματος, καὶ μάλιστα τὰ περὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, θραυομένης τῆς πέτρης· ἔπεμπον ἐς Δέλφους θεοπρόπους ἐπερησομένους τὸ ἀντίξοον.

"Ce passage paroît altéré à M. Toup," says Larcher vol. 1. p. 180 of the translation. "Il corrige avévdoros de näcú opi ÈYÉVETO. Ce terrein (qu'ils creusoient) ne cédoit point, étoit trop dur pour pouvoir être creusé.' Cette correction seroit très juste, s'il étoit impossible de donner un sens raisonnable au texte. Mais il me semble que feu M. Wesseling l'a très-bien expliqué." Larcher thus translates the whole passage. "Car tout leur territoire étoit eu dedans de l'isthme, et ne tenoit au continent que par cette langue de terre qu'ils vouloient couper. Ils employèrent un grand nombre de travailleurs; mais les éclats de pierre les blessant en

différens endroits, et principalement aux yeux, d'une manière si extraordinaire, qu'il paroissoit bien qu'il y avoit là quelque chose de divin, ils envoyèrent demander à Delphes quelle étoit la puissance qui s'opposoit à leur efforts."

The luminous Note of Wesseling, to which Larcher refers, is this: "Quæ in hæc verba animadvertit v. d. Miscell. Lips. vol. VII. p. 621. et vol. v111. p. 298. ostentabit. Ipse scripto ad me minore molimine, ἐγγὺς δὲ ταῦτά σφι ἐγένετο, parum aberat, quin opus illud ex ipsorum sententia perficeretur, aut eixóτws de opo Taura-non sine causa faciebant. Conjecturæ illæ alacrem ingenii volubilitatem declarant. Mihi licebit esse tardiori. Docetur infra eam fossam, quam deprimebant, Chersonesum universam tum fuisse, atque insulæ ferme instar. Eum in modum qui confertim intra urbem se penetrarunt, Αθρόοι ἐντὸς γενόμενοι in Partheni Erot. c. 9. et de Chersoneso Thracia opportune Noster vi. 36. άrò dè τοῦ ἰσθμοῦ τούτου ἡ χερσόνησος εἴσω πᾶσά ἐστι.” P. 32. Ed. Amsterdam. That the reader may see more clearly whether the latter quotation from the 6th of Herodotus strengthens the opinion of Wesseling, I shall quote the whole passage, Eloi de outo σTádici ἕξ τε καὶ τριήκοντα τοῦ ἰσθμοῦ, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ ἰσθμοῦ τούτου ἡ χερσόνησος εἴσω πᾶσά ἐστι σταδίων εἴκοσι καὶ τετρακοσίων τὸ μῆκος.

6

The Note of J. Toup is this. "Quæ ad h. 1. scripserunt vv. longe eruditissimi non sunt unius assis. Tu vero, v. d., noli dubitare quin ab Herodoti manu fuerit, ὤρυσσον οἱ Κνίδιοι βουλόμενοι νησὸν τὴν χώρην ποιῆσαι· ἀνένδοτος δὲ πᾶσά σφι ἐγένετο. Cnidii fodiebant terram, conantes regionem suam in insulæ formam redigere, sed fodiebant frustra; nam terra άvévdotos fuit, i. e. cedere nesciebat, hard ground. Hæc mens et manus Herodoti, quæ elegantissima est. Error ortus est ex Librarii compendio. Sic solent isti homines. Haud aliter locutus est Strabo L. xvI. βαθεῖα γὰρ ἡ γῆ, καὶ μαλακὴ, καὶ εὐένδοτος, nam terra profunda est, et mollis, et que facile cedat. Vox vdoros occurrit ap. εὐένδοτος Philonem vol. 11. ubi Mangelius ex MSS. Med. legit aveuévdoros, sed male. Dicitur autem ἀνένδοτος, ἀνεκένδοτος, et δυσένδοτος. Quæ vox rarissima et Lexicographo commendanda. Occurrit ap. Eusebium Demonst. Evang. L. ix. τοὺς ἀπιστοῦντας καὶ πρὸς τὰ ἀληθῆ δυσχέρεις καὶ δυσενδότους. Quin et φιλένδοτος. Hesych. φιλένSoros, éλenuwv. Ita legendum, non piλévroλos, quod et animadvertisse jam video cl. Ruhnkenium." Vol. 11. p. 492. 3d. Ed. 1790. Valckenaer has the following Note in Wesseling's Ed. duntaxat litera mutata legerim ἐκτὸς δὲ πᾶσά σφι ἐγένετο, i. e. ἐκτὸς δὲ πᾶσα ἡ χώρη σφι ἐγένετο, sive ἦν, νησός, extrinsecus enim tota ipsorum regio erat insula. Paulo superius ista leguntur, tourns mάons s Κνιδίης, πλὴν ὀλίγης, περιῤῥόου. Istum quinque stadiorum isthmum voluerunt perfodere, cui, quod non esset insula, peninsula debebat

"Una

Cnidiorum : vid. Pausan. V. F. Commode succedunt quæ sequuntur apud Herodotum, in quibus ego quidem nihil desidero."

For my own part, I prefer Toup's emendation, but I do not conceive that all the difficulty is removed: for if you read with Τουρ ἀνένδοτος, the subsequent clause is not logically connected with the precedent words, ̓Ανένδοτος δὲ πασά σφι ἐγένετο· τῇ γὰρ ἡ Κνιδίη χώρη ἐς τὴν ἤπειρον τελευτᾷ, ταύτῃ ὁ ἰσθμός ἐστι τὸν ὤρυσσον. I would employ a little transposition thus, ὤρυσσον οἱ Κνίδιοι βουλόμενοι νησὸν τὴν χώρην ποιῆσαι· τῇ γὰρ ἡ Κνιδίη χώρη ἐς τὴν ἤπειρον τελευτᾷ, ταύτῃ ὁ ἰσθμός ἐστι τὸν ἄρυσσον· ἀνένδοτος δὲ πᾶσά σφι ἐγένετο· καὶ δὴ πόλλῃ χειρὶ ἐργαζομένων τῶν Κνιδίων (μαλλον γὰρ τὶ καὶ θειότερον ἐφαίνοντο τιτρώσκεσθαι οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι τοῦ οἰκότος τά τε ἄλλα τοῦ σώματος, καὶ μάλιστα τὰ περὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, θραυομένης τῆς πέτρης) ἔπεμπον ἐς Δέλφους θεοπρόπους ἐπερησομένους τὸ ἀντίξουν.

As the Grenville Edition of HOMER is at present scarce, and not accessible to every scholar, we are induced to present our Readers with the COLLATION OF THE HARLEIAN MS. OF THE ODYSSEY, which is annexed to the end of the Second Volume, and which was made by Professor Porson, and enriched with his Observations.