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THE
OF
1. "carptim": such seems to be the meaning of the word here, as Sigonius has noted. His words are "Carptim--profecto innuit se non singulas res eodem modo persecutorum, sed quæ memoratu digniores visæ fuerint, selecturum."
2. Sulpitius follows the Greek version, which ascribes many more years to the fathers of mankind than does the original Hebrew.
3. Many of the ancients (among whom our author is apparently to be reckoned) believed that Paradise was situated outside our world altogether.
4. An obvious mistake. The first city was built, not by Enoch, but by Cain. Gen. 4:17.
5. After the LXX, as usual.
6. Not of birds only, but other animals also. Gen. 8:20.
7. This is the Nimrod of the A. V.; he is called Nebrod by the LXX. We have, for the most part, given the proper names as they appear in the edition of Halm.
8. Such is the form of the name as given by Halm, though Abram would be expected.
9. The LXX has
10. A most improbable statement.
11. In the Greek of the LXX, the name appears as Abraam, so that, as our author says, there is only a change of one letter.
12. "juvenilis ætatis": the meaning is that he had ceased to be a mere adolescens, and had reached the flower of his age.
13. So in LXX.
14. This is the meaning of the Hebrew word, Beersheba.
15. "Titulum sibi domus Dei futurum": the rendering of the Hebrew original is here obviously faulty, and the words, as they stand, are scarcely intelligible.
16.
17. The rendering of the LXX.
18. "Admirabile."
19. "Latitudo": Vorstius says this refers to the broad bone, or broad nerve of the thigh.
20. "in parte turris Gadir": this is a strange rendering of the Hebrew. The LXX has "beyond the tower of Gader"; while the Revised English Version has "beyond the tower of Eder."
21. "Lacum."
22. Called Shuah in A. V.
23. Or perhaps, rather, marriage of a sort, as appears from what follows.
24. A different reading gives, "was born on the following day."
25. The chronology of the LXX is, as usual, here followed.
26. The original is, "quibus benedictis, cum tamen benedictionis merito majori minorem præposuisset, filios omnes benedictione lustravit."
27. This somewhat remarkable statement is supported by the text of Halm, who reads, "lege naturæ." But other editions have "legem naturæ," and the meaning will then be "who had learned the law of nature, and the knowledge of God," &c.
28. "Draconem."
29. Such is Halm's reading; another is simply "before."
30. The Hebrew text has "seventy," but our author, as usual, follows the LXX.
31. Again after the LXX.
32. The text here is uncertain and obscure.
33. "Virtute."
34. This is a somewhat strange description of the manna. Hornius remarks upon it that there may be a reference to the dew in which the Hebrews believed the manna to have been enveloped, but that seems a far-fetched explanation.
35. These words denote what is expressed in the Greek, "rulers of thousands, of hundreds, and of tens."
36. Some words seem to have been lost here.
37. The Hebrew text is here different.
38. Curiously enough, our author here reads, "twenty-three thousand," in opposition alike to the Greek and Hebrew text, both of which have "three thousand."
39. Halm here reads "referetur," but "refertur," another reading, seems preferable.
40. The text here varies: we have followed Halm.
41. "septingenti et xiiii milia."
42. Some words have been here lost, but are conjecturally supplied in the text.
43. "Allophylos": lit. strangers.
44. Many of the proper names occurring in this and other chapters are very different in form from those with which we are familiar in the O. T. But they have generally been given as they stand in the text of our author, and they can easily be identified by any readers who think it worth while to do so.
45. "Non esse in se."
46. "Infractis viribus": Vorstius well remarks that "infractis" is here used with the sense of the simple "fractis."
47. Simply "osse asini" in text.
48. This is clearly the meaning, and Halm's punctuation, "invocato Deo ex osse, quod manu tenebat, aqua fluxit," is obviously wrong.
49. A clear mistake of memory in our author. The whole narrative is confused.
50. The meaning is here doubtful.
51. The Hebrew text has forty years.
52. No reference to this occurs in the Hebrew text, but it is found in the Greek, and is also noticed by Josephus. See the LXX. 1 Sam. 5:6, and Josephus, Antiq. vi. 1.
53. Called Kirjath-jearim in the English version.
54. Samuel was a Levite, but not a priest.
55. The text here is very uncertain; we have followed the reading of Halm, "lamas," but others have "lacrimas" or "latebras."
56. "Armorum" is here supplied, but some prefer "cotis," according to 1 Sam. 13:20.
57. This is a mistake: David was undoubtedly then a grown-up young man.
58. "Puer": another mistake.
59. "Reficiendi corporis gratia": different from the Hebrew text.
60. The text is uncertain, but the meaning is clear.
61. The witch of Endor seems here to be referred to as if she had practiced ventriloquism, this being regarded as a form of demoniacal possession.
62. See Alford on Acts 13:21.
63. Halm here inserts the usual mark of a lacuna in the text: others omit the words "a plerisque autem."
64. He here specially refers to the well-known Chronicles of Eusebius, which were translated into Latin, and supplemented by Saint Jerome.
65. As is often the case with respect to numbers, there are discrepancies in the various accounts given of this census.
66. Here, again, there is much discrepancy in the accounts.
67. "Propheta."
68. The Chronicon of Eusebius is referred to.
69. Many editors here read "maternis," instead of "paternis."
70. It is remarkable, as Hornius has observed after Ligonius, that, while in the kingdom of Judah the sovereignty remained in the same family, in the kingdom of Ephraim the scepter was hardly ever transmitted to son or grandson.
71. "Cum filiis": after the Greek; the Hebrew text speaks of only one son.
72. Such seems clearly to be the meaning of the somewhat strange phrase, "promissorum fidem consecuta est."
73. "Egisse pænitentiam."
74. "Paralipomenis."
75. "Chronicis," i.e. of Eusebius.
76. "Chronicorum," i.e. of Eusebius.
77. There is a reference in these words to the two tribes, or kingdom of Judah.
78. Surely a blunder; for, as has been well asked, how could Jonah, who was swallowed by a whale in the Mediterranean, have been cast out by the fish on the shores of the Ninevites? The Hebrew text has simply "the dryland."
79. After the Greek; the Hebrew has "forty days."
80. Vorstius remarks that this is a totally erroneous statement.
81. "Piaculo": a very old meaning is here attached to the word.
82. Our author is here guilty of omission and consequent inaccuracy. Comp. Isa. chap. 37.
83. "Lacum," as once before.
84. "mysterio futurorum mirabile."
85. Such is clearly the meaning, but it is strangely expressed by the words "omnibus ante regnis validissimum."
86. The text is here very uncertain and obscure.
87. "resurrectionis," referring probably not to the rising again of the dead, but to the restoration of the Jews. See Ezek. chap. 37.
88. Or, "confessed that he had seen a son of God."
89. "in versum ductæ literæ": various emendations have been proposed, but the text may stand. The meaning appears to be that the letters were not thrown together at random, but so placed as to form words.
90. "lacum": twice used before in the sense of pit.
91. The reference is to Æn. I. 729, but Sigonius and others have suspected the words as being a gloss. They are, however, probably genuine. Virgil's words are,--
"Hic regina gravem gemmis auroque poposcit92. Stilico was consul during the lifetime of Sulpitius.
Implevitque mero paternam, quam Belus et omnes
A Belo soliti; tum facta silentia tectis."
93. "in plerisque exemplaribus": the MSS. varying, as they so often do, with respect to numbers.
94. "jamque ad medium machinæ processerant."
95. Our author here touches upon a most interesting question--the ultimate destiny of the ten tribes. He seems to imply that none of them returned to Palestine, but were wholly absorbed among the Gentile nations. That, however, cannot be correct, for it was still possible, in the time of Christ, to speak of some as connected with the tribe of Asher, one of the ten tribes. See Luke 2:36.
96. "patruele patre": words which have much perplexed the editors.
97. "poenam crucis": after the Greek.
98. The text is here uncertain.
99. "historia divina": the writer applies these words to the book of Judith.
100. They did not themselves, for a time, assume the name of king, but, as we have said above, professed to rule under the authority of king Arridæus, brother of Alexander.
101. Some add the words, "or of Lysimachus," but this appears to have been a gloss.
102. The text is here in utter confusion; we have followed that suggested by Vorstius.
103. Some words have here been lost, but the critics are not agreed as to what should be supplied.
104. As Vorstius suggests, we have here taken Jonathan as a nominative, but the passage is very obscure.
105. "Introrsum," towards home; another reading is "ultrorsum," farther onwards.
106. "vincendi": others read "incendii."
107. "virtutibus."
108. Generally spoken of as Simon Magus.
109. "humanis rebus eximitur."
110. Rev. 13:3.
111. How so? Because, according to Drusius, the Christian Jews were thus first taught to cast off the yoke of the law, which they had observed up to this time.
112. These were half-Jews and half-Christians, and were known at a later date under the name of Nazarites. They made use of what was called the Gospel according to the Hebrews.
113. "decem plagis."
114. "basilicas": edifices, which, in size and grandeur, had some resemblance to a royal palace.
115. "admota militari manu atque omnium provincialium multitudine in studia reginæ certantium."
116. "funus excussum": a singular expression.
117. "ambitu": apparently used here with the meaning which sometimes belongs to "ambitione."
118. The one of these was Arius, the author of the heresy, and the other a presbyter of Alexandria bearing the same name.
119. Both the text and meaning are here obscure. We have read, with Halm, "fecisse" for the usual "factum."
120. Different periods and events are here mixed up by our author.
121. The text is in utter confusion, and we can only make a probable guess at the meaning.
122. It has been remarked that Sulpitius is in error in ascribing the summoning of this council to Constantine the Great, instead of his son Constantine II. The curious thing is that he should have made a mistake regarding an event so near his own time.
123. "qui etiam nostrorum judicio hæreticus probatur."
124. As Epiphanius remarks, Sabellius taught that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were all the same person, only under different appellations.
125. "libidinem."
126. The text is here in utter confusion and uncertainty. Some for "ac tum" read "nec tum," and some, instead of "judicum" read "judicium." The meaning therefore can only be guessed at.
127. The modern Cagliari.
128. "Piacula profiteri."
129. Instead of "refertam," some read "infectam."
130. "magistris officialibus": Halm reads "magistri."
131. "annonas et cellaria."
132. Of course, the Catholics, or orthodox.
133. "per vicarium ac præsidem": as Vorstius remarks, these were the two magistrates of Phrygia.
134. "trionymam solitarii Dei unionem": Hornius here remarks that "Sabellius believed that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost were the same, and differed among themselves only in name."
135. The text is very uncertain; we have followed that of Halm, but the common text inserts a "non," and reads thus: "but the Son of God is not pronounced equal to the Father, and without beginning," etc.
136. "sine tempore."
137. "seminarium": lit. seed-plot.
138. The modern Perigueux.
139. "superstitio exitiabilis": the very words which Tacitus employs, when speaking of Christianity itself (Annal. xv. 44).
140. "arcanis occultata secretis": it is impossible to say what is the exact meaning of these words.
141. "profanarum rerum."
142. "perfidiæ istius."
143. The text has merely "extra omnes terras."
144. Some read Euchrocia, and so afterwards.
145. "magistro officiorum."
146. This appears to be the meaning, but the text is obscure.
147. "clemens": some read "Clementen," and join it with "Maximum."
148. "labes illa."
149. Halm prefers the form "Sylinancim" to "Sylinam." The reference is probably to the Scilly Isles.
150. The meaning seems to be, that Ithacius being blamed for bringing accusations against his brethren, at first defended his conduct by an appeal to the laws and the public weal, both of which justified the prosecution of heretics; but being at last driven from this position, he turned round and cast the blame upon those for whom he had acted.
151. Some read "solitus," instead of "sollicitus."