shrewdness, refers in the serpent, according to the ancients, chiefly to its sagacious shrewdness in self-defence and defence of its offspring, and such other particulars. It may therefore by some be doubted, whether such an epithet be sufficiently consistent with what is afterwards mentioned of its mischievous or malicious disposition to man, and indeed to all other animals: yet it should on the other hand be considered, that such apparently mischievous acts arise only from an excess of zeal for the safety of itself and offspring, so that they acquire the character of offensive mischief only from the serpent's inability to distinguish neutral intruders upon it, from intentional enemies to its safety. As to what Eve says, "that the serpent beguiled me," neither does this seem inconsistent with the favorable idea suggested by φρόνιμος, for it may refer rather to the character of πανουργος in the supernatural agent represented by the serpent, than to the character of the serpent itself, and thus while one word suits that agent best, the other best suits the serpent. Lastly, Leclerc has proposed another sense of the Hebrew word denoted by ogóvos, for he pretends, that it may mean insidious, i. e. expressing the idea of lying in wait in order for offensive surprise; and he adduces in support of this, that Aristotle describes the serpent as being remarkably thus insidious, (μáλiora Éπißouλos) but this is only in part true, for serpents do not lie covered in the grass for the purpose of any such surprise, but rather from fear or caution, or merely for their own satisfaction: yet this sense has been too hastily adopted by Patrick, in his Commentary, and lately by Rosenmuller, in his Scholia on Genesis. Leclerc pretends farther in support of it, that the Hebrew word has this sense of insidious in i. Sam. 23, 22; and yet he himself in his note there shows, that this is only a sense given to it in the Latin vulgate, by the word insideer, which it ought not to have, since the text indicates only the sense of astute aget, in the Septuagint ravougyonra rightly, and so he himself translates it there, callideè se gessit. We find, then, no sufficient reason to depart from the favorable sense of govμos, shrewd, given both in the old or new testament as a proper epithet for a serpent according to the opinions then prevailing concerning it; which, whether true or not, make no difference in regard to the propriety of the epithet in such an ancient narration; and until the literal meaning of words be thus ascertained, it is in vain to seek after their allegoric ones. The name, at least, ought to have appeared to Eve in a favorable light at first, that she might listen to what is urged under it. But after having fixed clear and determinate meanings to the words, I cannot in my own opinion sufficiently admire, in this most ancient relic of former wisdom, this best account of the origin of evil among mankind, the strong sense which runs through the whole narration, but rather briefly hinted than expressed, the deep and intimate knowledge of the weakness and duplicity of the human heart, and of the characteristic infirmities of both sexes; which thus disposed the woman to risk, by deceit, the loss of that inestimable jewel, the very bond of all their happiness, mutual confidence in each other, and this merely from a childish desire to gratify her fancies about trash and trifles; and equally disposed the man likewise to become an unfortu nate counterpart, by his ready willingness to be deceived, and to be rendered blind to truths of the utmost importance to him through the simple reasons, as well as seducing example, of her he loved. The knowing and crafty agent would not have hit upon four more powerful topics of persuasion to the woman than curiosity and love of novelty, together with an ardent fondness for the mere show of things, and also a desire of eminence, exaltation and grandeur, or lastly, some plausible ostensible pretence of great use and benefit to be derived from what in her own heart she knew to be wished for by herself, from petty foolish motives only, which she was almost ashamed to own. Hence the first argument was offered to her curiosity for knowing secrets, for the whole mystery concerning the tree, which was before so studiously kept from her knowledge, was to be hereafter disclosed to her, that she might be made happy by the knowledge. The second inducement was directed to work upon her love of eminence and grandeur, so that she would be exalted to the rank of a goddess, and thus satisfaction was administered to her pride. A third motive was, if possible, more powerful than either of the former two, which was her love of show in all things, and she herself accordingly saw that the fruit was pleasant to the eyes; just as her daughters ever since have been governed altogether by their eyes alone, so that the first question asked to direct their judgment of the value of any thing is, whether it be beautiful. A fourth advantage she had almost forgot, however at last it came limping in behind, whether or not it was to be desired to make one wise; and it may be doubted, whether she would not have forgot this benefit altogether, if it had not occurred to her rather as a sneer at the great fuss the men make about their wisdom, which she knew that she could turn upside down with a single smile. The character of the man is sketched out with as faithful a pencil as in the female his immediate compliance to grasp greedily whatever was offered by so dear a hand, was as soon followed by a wish to throw the blame from himself, of his own weakness, upon others; hence his first article of vindication was, "that thou gavest the woman to me for a companion and rational friend, because thou didst not deem it meet, that I alone of all thy creation should live in solitude;" and I did comply with her advice to eat. Thou poor evasive hypocrite! was it not the caresses of female charms, and the enjoyments of nuptial love, which smothered in thy breast all thoughts of duty, just as ever since in all thy posterity they have overcome the king and the hero, the virtuous and the wise? If, alas, too late, a sense of the too ready prevalence of human passions over reason, and duty, did afterwards turn thee naked out of thy paradise of delights, is not that very nakedness itself a fit symbol of thy wretched condition: in other respects, when deprived of all the necessaries as well as comforts of human life, except what thou couldst raise slowly from the earth by hard labor and the sweat of thy brows? Naked indeed is man when exposed to all the wants, the ills and sorrows of the world, just as if exposed without clothing to the pelting storms of the elements! His first poor expedient of fig-leaves, to supply his want of clothing was only another testimony of his wretchedness, when thus left to his own reason alone to acquire the first necessaries of existence, for which purpose acorns also must have been his food, as well as figleaves his covering: unarmed likewise, as well as naked, in a wide world, to become a prey to wild beasts, and as ignorant of the simplest arts of life, as defenceless against the many ills of it; that single word nakedness therefore alone expresses the vast extent of man's misery; and points out this moral to the whole narration, the unhappy state of man when no longer protected by God's Providence, and the consequent necessity of obedience to his wise directions, whether dictated by natural reason, or by his positive commands. This is the true origin of evil in the world, so far as it respects the happiness of the human race, that by its too ardent pursuit of present, though petty gratifications of far inferior value, when left to itself alone, it counteracts the designs of the creation, and brings upon men a long train of evils, of which they had not any knowledge before, nor yet even any conception of their nature; for the fruit of the tree of knowledge is too often even still a knowledge of the miseries of the world, rather than of the blessings of it, when deprived of the continual and providential care of its Creator, and of his directions for the guidance of human actions. But after having expressed my admiration of this relic of the wisdom of old times, I ought also, in justice, to notice the learned commentaries on it, by the ingenious pens of the abovementioned writers in modern times, who by their deep researches into the hidden mysteries of oriental languages, have brought many curious facts to light, no less to our satisfaction than astonishment; such as whether the Nachasch in question might not be a monkey or a crocodile, as well as a serpent, and what is equally wonderful, whether it spoke to Eve in Hebrew or in Greek, or whether a monkey might not be able to crawl on its belly, and a serpent on the contrary to walk erect, but a crocodile even be capable of both; and whether serpents now live on dust, as they did at the first creation, or monkies were then as fond of nuts and apples as they are at present. These and so many other such profound disquisitions show to advantage what a happy use has been made of an intimate knowledge of oriental languages toward the illustration of the Jewish scriptures. As to my own object, I have only gone one step farther than Sir W. D. who has pointed out the ill consequences of departing from long-received senses in scriptural words, in order to substitute those of merely modern imagination. This practice has been shown by me to be still more objectionable, whenever the senses so long received contain any interesting and moral instruction to mankind, independent of that important inquiry in natural history, whether serpents did not at first creep upon four legs, which were afterwards cut off as a punishment for being concerned in the deception of the mother of the human race. a question, which I leave to be determined by those, who have more leisure to inquire into the roots of Chaldee, Hebrew, and Arabic words. But I hesitate, however, along with Eve, whether the fruit of the tree of knowledge is so much to be desired, without our having some. more substantial evidence of its ability to make all of us wise; nay, even at the very best, a knowledge of the frail state of human existence, when not protected by divine Providence, with the gloomy view of death at last, is but a knowledge of how soon men will be turned out of their earthly paradise into an unknown dreary wilderness of despair through the darkness of the way before them, in case they depart from the right senses as well as words of that divine guide to their present paths, and better hopes in future. In fine, it may be truly said of the inquiries of all the above writers concerning the Nachasch, what was actually said of M. Huet, when he published his Demonstratio Evangelica, that it cleared up and demonstrated nothing except the very great extent of his own reading. Norwich, Jan. 12. S. CLASSICAL CRITICISM. NO. 11. SIR, TO THE EDITOR OF THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL. THE First Epistle of Horace opens with these lines — Primâ dicte mihi, summâ dicende camœnâ, In this passage I should object to the usual translation of two phrases. Extremâ arená is rendered, in English, the farther end of the arena. It rather appears, that either in a circus, or amphitheatre, where the audience are ranged around the arena, the proper place from which to address effectively that audience is not towards the end of the arena, but some spot nearer to the centre of the open space. The idea of addressing the people from the farther end of that space, I conclude, is taken from our own theatres, and not from any ancient circus or amphitheatre. I would propose the following translation: Vejanius, armis Herculis ad postem fixis, latet abditus agro, "Vejanius, having deposited his arms at the temple of Hercules, remains concealed at his country residence, that he may not repeatedly request his dismissal at a last performance:" that is, Vejanius, advanced in life, remains at a distance from Rome, lest the people should press him to the circus, under a promise, which they never fail to break, of its being his last performance. In our northern climate it is not easy to clothing was only another testimony of his wretchedness, when thus left to his own reason alone to acquire the first necessaries of existence, for which purpose acorns also must have been his food, as well as figleaves his covering: unarmed likewise, as well as naked, in a wide world, to become a prey to wild beasts, and as ignorant of the simplest arts of life, as defenceless against the many ills of it; that single word nakedness therefore alone expresses the vast extent of man's misery; and points out this moral to the whole narration, the unhappy state of man when no longer protected by God's Providence, and the consequent necessity of obedience to his wise directions, whether dictated by natural reason, or by his positive commands. This is the true origin of evil in the world, so far as it respects the happiness of the human race, that by its too ardent pursuit of present, though petty gratifications of far inferior value, when left to itself alone, it counteracts the designs of the creation, and brings upon men a long train oť evils, of which they had not any knowledge before, nor yet even any conception of their nature; for the fruit of the tree of knowledge is too often even still a' knowledge of the miseries of the world, rather than of the blessings of it, when deprived of the continual and providential care of its Creator, and of his directions for the guidance of human actions. But after having expressed my admiration of this relic of the wisdom of old times, I ought also, in justice, to notice the learned commentaries on it, by the ingenious pens of the abovementioned writers in modern times, who by their deep researches into the hidden mysteries of oriental languages, have brought many curious facts to light, no less to our satisfaction than astonishment; such as whether the Nachasch in question might not be a monkey or a crocodile, as well as a serpent, and what is equally wonderful, whether it spoke to Eve in Hebrew or in Greek, or whether a monkey might not be able to crawl on its belly, and a serpent on the contrary to walk erect, but a crocodile even be capable of both; and whether serpents now live on dust, as they did at the first creation, or monkies were then as fond of nuts and apples as they are at present. These and so many other such profound disquisitions show to advantage what a happy use has been made of an intimate knowledge of oriental languages toward the illustration of the Jewish scriptures. As to my own object, I have only gone one step farther than Sir W. D. who has pointed out the ill consequences of departing from long-received senses in scriptural words, in order to substitute those of merely modern imagination. This practice has been shown by me to be still more objectionable, whenever the senses so long received contain any interesting and moral instruction to mankind, independent of that important inquiry in natural history, whether serpents did not at first creep upon four legs, which were afterwards cut off as a punishment for being concerned in the deception of the mother of the human race. a question, which I leave to be determined by those, who have more leisure to inquire into the roots of Chaldee, Hebrew, and Arabic words. But I hesitate, however, along with Eve, whether the fruit of the tree of knowledge is so much to be desired, without our having some. |