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OF THE

PLAGUES OF EGYPT,

PART SECOND.

THE FOURTH PLAGUE.

Κυνόμυιαι, or FLIES.

Exod. Ch. viii. Ver. 20. And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me:

V: 21. Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground, whereon they are.

V. 22. And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou

mayest know, that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.

V. 23. And I will put a division between my people, and thy people: to-morrow shall the sign.be.

V. 24. And the Lord did so: and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.

We find, that Moses was ordered to accost Pharaoh, and to disclose to him the will of God, at the time, when he was taking his morning walk upon the banks of the Nile. It was probably a season of customary adoration; when the prince of the country shewed his reverence to the stream, which was esteemed so beneficial and sacred. The judgment to be denounced was a plague of flies and of the same species, according to Bochart, as was stiled by the Romans Musca Canina, and by the Grecians' Kuvopuia. They were brought

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Whether the term denotes absolutely a distinct species of fly, or swarms of all sorts, may be difficult to determine. The Seventy express it κυνόμυια. Ιδε, εγω εξαποτέλλω επί σε κυνόμυίαν. De Terrâ GosenI—oux isαi exei ý xuvojeviæ.

Exod. 8. v. 21,

v. 22.

all over the land in vast numbers; and seem to have been not only formidable for their swarms, but for the 'painfulness of their stings, as well as of their bite, which was intolerable. There is reason to think, that the Egyptians had particular deities to remedy stated evils; as we may infer from the nations, who came from them. They were similar to the Dɛo аTоrgоTάio, and Dii Averrunci, of Greece and Rome and their department was to ward off those natural evils to which their votaries were liable. The province allotted to several deities was particularly to drive away flies. I have shewn that many of the Grecian states consisted of colonies from Egypt; and we read of Jupiter μυιαγρος, μυιοκόρος, απομυιος, all titles 'conferred upon this deity from a supposition of his clearing his temples from these insects. He was worshipped under this character at

Ειπε, και ήλθε κυνόμυια. Psalm 104. v. 31.

Εξαπέτειλεν επ' αυτές κυνόμυιαν, και κατέφαγεν αυτές. Psalm

77. v. 45.

The Vulgate renders it-Omne genus muscarum. Aquila παμμυιαν. The like is to be found in the Syriac and Samaritan.-Cyniphen omnis generis: & omne genus muscarum, according to the Latin translation.

* Ους κεν γαρ ακρίδων και μυίων σπέκτεινε δήγμα. Sapient. Lis

ber. c. 16. y. 9.

2

Elis; as Hercules was at Rome. The Arcadians also sacrificed to the hero Myiagrus, from whence we may infer that the worship was very ancient. The like obtained at Cyrene, where the deity was stiled Achor, as we learn from Pliny.---3 Cyrenaïci Achorem deum (invocant) muscarum multitudine pestilentiam adferente; quæ protinus intereunt, postquam litatum est deo. From the supposed influence of the presiding deity many temples were said to have been free from this inconvenience. Thus we are told by Apollonius Dyscolus, that there were no flies seen in the temple of Venus at Paphos; and the altar of Hercules in the Forum 5 Boarium at Rome was said to have had the same immunity. The like is mentioned of the altar of Jupiter at Olympia: and of another at Aliphera in Arcadia: likewise at other places.

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Απομυιῳ Διο θυεσιν Ηλείοι, Ρωμαιοι δε Απομυιῳ Ηρακλεί. Cle mens. Protrept. p. 33. See also Pausan. 1. 5. p. 410.

* Pausan. 1. 8. p. 653. Ev tauth Ty Tannyugel Mularen wes-και επικαλεμένοι τον Μυιαγρον.

θυεσιν, επευχομενοι

3 L. 10. c. 26.

tat. Plin. p. 10.

est.

Salmasius would alter this-see ExerciSee also Pliny, 1. 29. c. 6.

* See Rerum Mirabil. Scriptores by Meursius. c. 7. p. 14. 5 Nam divinitus illo neque canibus neque muscis ingressus Solinus, 1. 1. p. 2.

§ Pausan. 1. 5. p. 410.

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