We may suppose that such a bow as this, and such as David referred to, is that in the hands of the Persian ki the annexed cut, who, in the original sculpture at Tackt-i-Bostan, is represented of colossal proportions, in the a shooting at wild boars. It is observable that in the above extract, and in the other descriptions of Homer, the e the arrow is drawn home to the breast, rather than to the right ear, as in Egyptian and Persian figures, and i more modern practice both of the east and west.-The length of the ancient bows seems to have been very va but so far as we can collect, those intended for efficient use, and not merely for teaching archery, were seldom than four feet long, or more than six. Somewhat above five feet may have been the average proportion of its leng The bowstring was, among the ancients, formed of leathern thongs, horsehair, and the sinews of oxen.-The a were usually either of reed or light wood, headed with bone, ivory, sharp stone, brass, or iron. They were some simply pointed, but oftener barbed, or leaf-shaped, like a spear-head. Arrow heads of bronze have been fou Egypt, triangular, in the shape of an elongated cone, with a barb at each angle. The horrible practice of pois the points of arrows, which now exists among many barbarous nations, is very ancient. Ulysses is represent Homer, as having made a voyage to the island of Ephyre

In his swift bark, seeking some pois'nous drug,
Wherewith to taint his brazen arrows keen,
Which drug, through fear of the eternal gods,
Ilus refus'd, but readily my sire

Gave to him, for he loved him past belief."

It is thought that St. Paul alludes to such poisoned weapons when he exhorts the Ephesians to take "the shi faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." But more probably the allusion another use of arrows,-which was, to fasten combustibles to them, and so send fire against the enemy or amon dwellings of a besieged place, or the works and engines of a besieging army. There seems a most distinct refe to poisoned arrows in Job vi. 4: and to the custom of shooting combustibles in Ps. cxx. 4; and perhaps the reference may be detected in the figurative language which compares lightning to the arrows of the Almighty ( x. 14). The pestilence, and other sudden, devastating and unavoidable calamities, are also described as the arro God. Arrows were usually feathered, generally with the wing feather of a goose or other large bird; hence, and reference to their swiftness, there was a two-fold propriety in the poetical epithet of "winged," so often applied to destructive missiles.

The arrows were kept in a quiver, which was generally either round or obeliscal, and wider at the open than a closed end, as the feathered ends of the arrows, which were uppermost, required more room than the points. It was to the back, so that the archer by putting his hand over the right shoulder could easily take them out as wanted

ems to have been closed by a lid or an over-looping flap of skin, when no immediate occasion for the arrows emplated. The bow also had its case, in which it was kept, under similar circumstances. It was usually of r cloth, and was commonly suspended from the girdle, as represented in the hindermost figure of the cut in 513. Taking it from the case, in preparation for action, is what Habakkuk alludes to in- Thy bow was made ted" (ch. iii. 9). The bow when out of its case was usually carried on the left arm or shoulder; but in a at Tackt-i-Bostan, a king is represented with his bow about his neck, in such a fashion as might have suge Turkish use of the bowstring in strangling state-offenders.

of the above particulars are strikingly illustrated in the account which Homer gives of the archery of Pan

ad we cite it with the more satisfaction on account of the proximity of the date of the Trojan war to the times er consideration:

"He complied,

at the word uncas'd his polish'd bow,
horn of a salacious mountain-goat.

t goat, forth issuing from his cave, himself,
mbush placed, had stricken in the breast,
back into his cave supine he fell.
sixteen palms his measur'd length of horn
spir'd aloft; the bow-smith, root to root,
pted each, shav'd smooth the wrinkled rind,
i polish'd all, and tipp'd the points with gold.
bow he strung, and, stooping to his task,
ared it well for use, behind a fence

Lycian shields, lest, seeing him, the Greeks,

Should fly to smite him ere the wound were giv'n.
His quiver's lid displaced, he chose a dart
Unflown, full-fledg'd, and barb'd with bitterest woe;
He lodg'd it on the cord, but ere it flew,
To Lycian Phoebus vow'd, at his return
To Zelia's walls, in honour of his aid,
A hecatomb, all firstlings of the flock.
Then, seizing fast the reed, he drew the barb
Home to his bow, the bowstring to his breast.
And when the horn was rounded to an arch,
He twang'd it. Whizz'd the bowstring, and the reed
With fell impatience started to the goal."
Iliad, iv. 110-133. COWPER.

w was however by no means generally used in the Trojan war; though it was preferred by some individual The spear seems to have been considered the more honourable weapon in battle. It would seem, however, that the bow was cultivated as an accomplishment, useful in the chace and in occasional combats. Achilles and re know to have been able archers, though we do not find them use the bow on the field of battle. In later find bodies of archers in the armies of Greece, Persia, and Rome, as well as in that of the Hebrews. The ad Persians were the most famous archers of antiquity. The latter are spoken of in Scripture (Isa. xiii. 8; 35; 1. 9, 14, 29, 42), which will therefore afford us another opportunity of noticing their archery; and of e manner in which skill and power with the bow were obtained, and also the manner in which they were dishe present note being chiefly intended to illustrate the instrumental and manual parts of a subject which the so frequently brings under our notice.

FROM AN EGYPTIAN BAS-RELIEF AT THEBES.

The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places."-Jonathan is here intended, as appears from verse 25. "O thou wast slain in thine high places." With Jonathan the poem begins, and with Jonathan, that tender and mous friend, it ends. The word (y tzebi) rendered "beauty" in the present text, and elsewhere "glory" our," means also the antelope or gazelle, which is regarded in Western Asia as the symbol of agility and It is probable that the animal comparison should be preferred, since the figure is then more sustained in the lause. It will then read, as in Boothroyd:-"O antelope of Israel! pierced on thy high place!" and that translator understands that the last clause refers to the habit among animals of the deer kind, when closely of running at last to their usual haunt and there awaiting the fatal stroke. We see the allusion repeated in and still with reference to Jonathan. There may also be a reference in this comparison to the swiftness for mathan was celebrated, for in verse 23, Saul and his son are described as being "swifter than eagles.”—We content with this single observation, without attempting to analyze this impressive elegy, or to expatiate on theircumstances of beauty and true pathos which it offers.

7 That is, the field of strong men. 8 Heb. 10 Heb. from after Abner.

25 And the children of Benjamin ga29 And Abner and his men walked all ་ thered themselves together after Abner, and that night through the plain, and passed became one troop, and stood on the top of over Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and they came to Mahanaim.

an hill.

26 Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour for ever? knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? how long shall it be then, ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren?

27 And Joab said, As God liveth, unless thou hadst spoken, surely then "in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother.

13

28 So Joab blew a trumpet, and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither fought they any more.

30 And Joab returned from following Abner: and when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of David's servants nineteen men and Asahel.

31 But the servants of David had smitten of Benjamin, and of Abner's men, so that three hundred and threescore men died.

32And they took up Asahel, and buried him in the sepulchre of his father, which was in Beth-lehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and they came to Hebron at break of day.

18 Or, gone away.

Verse 14. "Let the young men now arise, and play before us."-This has been variously understood. We have no doubt that the matter is most satisfactorily elucidated by the usages of Arabian warfare, as explained in a note to 1 Sam. xvii. As a prelude to the general combat, men from the opposite parties stood forth and challenged each other. The preceding cut of Roman gladiatorial combats, taken from bas-reliefs found at Pompeii, in which the mortal conflict of the combatants furnished an amusement in which the people greatly delighted, may serve to illustrate the manner of such combats, although the principle in which they originated and on which they were conducted, was very different. (See Library of Entertaining Knowledge,' Pompeii, vol. i. p. 309.)

16. "They caught every one his fellow by the head."-Doubtless by the hair of the head-that is, either of the scalp or the beard. On account of the convenient hold which the hair of the head or beard affords to an enemy in battle, it has been the custom in most nations for soldiers to dispense with it. Among those nations who wear the hair of the head, and do not shave it off like the Mohammedans, it is usually cropped close, as among our own soldiers; and even among some of the nations that cherish the beard, the soldiers have been persuaded or obliged to submit to the loss of it. Among both the Russians and Persians the beard is highly venerated; but in both nations the soldiers have been obliged to part with that important ornament. On the comparatively recent introduction of European tactics into the Persian army, a great stand was at first made for the retention of the beard; and it was only through the occurrence of an accident to a bearded soldier, that the late prince royal, Abbas Meerza, was convinced of the unmilitary character of such an appendage, and reluctantly issued an order for his soldiers to be shaven. This is, however, no modern discovery. Plutarch relates in his Apophthegms, that when all things were prepared for a battle, the officers of Alexander asked him whether he had any further commands? He said, "Nothing; unless that the Macedonians shave their beards." And when Parmenio expressed some surprise at this order, he added: "Have you not observed that in fight there is no better hold than the beard ?"

18. "Light of foot as a wild roe."-In the early history of all nations, as we have already had occasion to observe, physical endowments, such as strength and swiftness, held the very first place in the estimation of the people. We hare heard much of physical characteristics and personal accomplishments, but never, or very rarely, of mental distinctions. Among physical endowments, swiftness seems to have held no mean place in the esteem of the Hebrews. In the last chapter, we see Saul and Jonathan described as "swifter than eagles" and now Ahasel is "light of foot as wild roe." In like manner we find Homer thus distinguishing the hero of the Iliad, whose name continually recurs in the form of Achilles, swiftest of the swift."

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21. "Lay thee hot on one of the young men, and take his armour."-From this we see that it was the custom with the Hebrews as among other ancient nations, for the victor in a combat to strip the slain enemy of his armour, as the reward and honourable trophy of his conquest. In Homer we have continual examples of this. The heroes no sooner kill an enemy, than they jump from their chariots to secure his armour; and they are so eager in this matter, that it almost looks sometimes as if the armour of the respective combatants was the sole object of the conflict. Sometimes there is a fight over the dead body-from the anxiety of the friends of the deceased to prevent his armour from being taken, and from the eagerness of the victor and his friends to secure such honourable prey. This practice was well calculated to confuse a battle; and seems therefore to have been restricted to the chiefs, the mass of the soldiers not being allowed to strip the dead until the next day, or at least until after the battle. Thus also in 1 Sam. xxxi. we see that the Philistines did not come to strip the slain till the following day. If Saul had been killed in single combat, his armour would doubtless have been immediately seized by the victor. Nevertheless, under every modification, the practice was attended with much inconvenience, as we discover in the Iliad (vi. 70.) from what Nestor says in his anxiety to prevent its bad consequences :-

"Friends, heroes, Grecians, ministers of Mars!
Stay none behind, desirous of the spoil,

But slay we now; that done, ye may at ease
Traverse the plains, and strip them where they fell."

Some curious questions as to the right to such spoil must sometimes have arisen. We find an instance of this among the Arabian conquerors of Syria. In the single combats between the Greeks and Arabians, which preluded the great and decisive battle of Yermouk, Serjabil was near being killed by a Christian officer, when Derar came to his assistance, and stabbed the latter to the heart. Then it became a question between Serjabil and Derar which had the right to the dead man's armour. Derar claimed it as having killed him; Serjabil, as having wearied him in the combat. The difference was referred to the general, who hesitated to decide, and sent to submit the matter to the Khalif (Omar) concealing the names of the parties, and the armour being meanwhile kept by Serjabil; but it was taken from him and given to Derar, when Omar sent back his determination, to the effect that the spoil of an enemy was always due to the person by whom he was killed. (See Ockley's 'Conquest of Syria,' p. 237.)

23. "With the hinder end of the spear smote him.”—See the note in vol. i. p. 616.