DEAD FLIES CAUSE A STINKING SAVOUR, and PUTRIFY THE OINTMENT OF THE APOTHECARY; as in the old Verfion. The יבאישו ויביעו original Reading was probably * HERE the Author, having finished his Excurfion in Queft of the leading Characters, which have always difgraced human Nature in all luxurious States, throws off the Mafk, appears in his own Perfon, and from hence to the Clofe of the Book inculcates grave and serious Maxims, fuggefting proper Antidotes against the Poifon of fome of the foregoing Tenets. V. 11. Surely the Serpent will bite without Enchantment; and a Bab [אם ישך הנחש בלוא לחש - ואין יתרון לבעל הלשון : .Bler is no better There seems to be no fort of Connection between these two Clauses, as they are translated in our Verfion. The Verse ought to be rendered ---IF THE SERPENT BITE NOTWITHSTANDING THE ENCHANTMENT, SURELY there is NO ADVANTAGE in AN ENCHANTER: ,הלשון or ; לבעל הלשון for the Exigentia loci thus fixes the Senfe of by a Tranfpofition of Letters, may be a Miftake for men, as for an in the laft Ch. V.4. The LXX, Aquila, and the Syriac, seem to have had this latter Reading in their Texts. V. 12. but the Lips of a fool will fwallow up himself., Rather כסיל תבלענו : dered in other Places. V. 15. The Labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them: wyan Biboon] Rather WEARIETH HIM; as in the old Verfion. עמל [הכסילים תיגענו אשר לא ידע ללכת .becaufe be knoweth not bow to go to the City . [אל עיר : Rather WHO KNOWETH NOT (or cannot prevail upon himself to take the Trouble to learn) How &c. The Phrafe, how to go to the City, feems to be proverbial, and to denote a Thing eafy and obvious. ושריך בבקר יאכלו : .and thy Princes eat in the Morning V. 16. Rather FEAST &c. for the next Verfe fhews that this is the Sense; and that those Feasts were attended with Excess both in eating and drinking. for a Bird of the Air fhall carry the Voice The representing Fame as endowed with Wings is [ יוליך את הקול a fine poetical Image. So Virgil, Æn. IV. v. 175. mox fefe attollit in auras &c. CHAP. CHAP. XI. שלח לחמך על פני המים -: V. 1. Cat thy Bread upon the Waters - E25 Some Critics underftand this enigmatical Expreffion as a Direction to fow one's Seed in a moift Soil: but if that be good Hufbandry, it is not however fuitable to the Context. The old Verfion feems to give the true Meaning, viz. "Be liberal to the poor; and though it seem "to thee as a Thing ventured on the Sea, yet it shall bring thee Profit." V. 3. If the Clouds be full of Rain, they empty themselves upon the Earth: Rather - IF [אם ימלאו העבים - גשם על הארץ יריקו THE CLOUDS BE FULL, THEY POUR DOWN THE RAIN UPON THE EARTH. This feems to intimate, "that the rich ought to dif"tribute out of their Abundance to the poor." In the fame Sense the next Sentence ought, I think, to be understood, viz. where the Tree falleth, there it shall be, i. e. "where a Favour has been conferred, "there it remains, or is not foon forgotten." שמר רוח לא V.4. He that obferveth the Wind fhall not fow &c. as 700 127] This I apprehend is not to be confined to the mere Letter, but to be understood as a general Caution against Procrastination. V. 8. But if a Man live many Years, and rejoice in them all: D ,This Verfe, like the next [שנים הרבה יחיה האדם בכלם ישמח ought, I think, to be conftrued as an Irony BUT IF A MAN LIVE MANY YEARS, LET HIM REJOICE IN THEM ALL. —yet let him remember the Days of Darkness; for they shall be ויזכר את ימי החשך כי הרבה יהיו כל .many. All that cometb is Vanity :an saw] Rather, I think BUT LET HIM REMEMBER THE DAYS OF DARKNESS, THAT THEY ARE MANY, and that ALL THAT COMETH is VANITY. IN V.9. and let thy Heart cheer thee in the Days of thy Youth.] Thefe Words in ought, I think, to be here rendered THY CHOICEST DAYS, particularly as thofe Words, in thy Youth, immediately precede. CHAP. XII. עד אשר לא יבאו ימי הרעה - while the evil Days come not V. 1. Rather --- BEFORE THE EVIL DAYS COME; for that is the Force of these three Particles thus united. [הצפור V. 4. -and all the Daughters of Mufick-Or-THE V. 5. and the Almond Tree shall flourish: pun p] All Critics agree that this Paffage relates to the Infirmities of old Age: -can poffibly imbut how the Phrase the Almond Tree fhall flourish. ply that "their Heads fhall be as white as the Blossoms of an Almond "Tree," as it is explained in the Margin of our old Verfion, I cannot conceive. No Language I believe can juftify fuch a Figure: neither is it true that the Bloffoms of an Almond Tree are white. I would thereAND HE THAT IS WAKEFUL SHALL fore render these Words BE CONTEMNED; for it is well known that old People fleep little; and that, on account of their Infirmities, they are too often the Sport of the inconfiderate. 131 and the Grafhopper shall be a Burden, ann an] This Expreffion is as unintelligible as the preceding one. Jerom had long fince affirmed that a fignified the Ankle as well as a Locuft; and it is evident that this Word in Arabic is used for the Thigh: wherefore I would thus tranflate the Text, with the Chaldee ANKLE SHALL BE A BURDEN TO ITSELF; or unable to fupport the Burden of the Body. AND THE V.6. Or ever the Silver Cord be loofed; -on ban pnn' as wx 7] By this Figure must, I think, be meant the Spinal Marrow. [עד אשר לא חבל הכסף ירחק ,That ותרץ גלת הזהב —or the golden Bowl be broken: — anin ba pa That is, I imagine, "Before the Head is reduced to a mere empty Scull," not unlike then in Colour to Gold, or in Form to a Bowl. - ותשבר כד על המבוע -: or the Pitcher be broken at the Fountain Perhaps - -"Before the Circulation of the Blood be ftopped at the "Heart." ונרץ הגלגל אל הבור : .or the Wheel broken at the Ciftern "Before the general Diffolution of the whole Mass, Solids Poffibly "and Fluids." V.7. and the Spirit fhall return unto God who gave it. והרוח Here the Author takes Care that no [תשוב אל האלהים אשר נתנה : one ! one might be misled by what had been afferted by those who supposed the Soul became extinct on it's Separation from the Body. V. 10. and that which was written was upright, even the Words -I read with the Syriac and Vul [וכתוב ישר דברי אמת: .of Truth gate and conftrue adverbially, or fupply the Prepofition 1, thus --- AND HE WROTE PROPERLY THE WORDS OF TRUTH. V. 11. The Words of the wife are as Goads, and as Nails faftened by the Masters of Assemblies, which are given from one Shepherd. חכמים כדרבנות וכמשמרות נטועים בעלי אספות נתנו מרעה אחד : -- Rather THE WORDS OF THE WISE are AS GOADS, OR AS CRITICAL REMARK S ON THE CANTICLES, .OR THE SONG OF SOLOMO N. CHAPTER I. VERSE 3. Because of the Savour of thy good Ointments, thy Name לריח שמניך טובים - שמן תורק שמך : is as Ointment poured forth Rather --- THY NAME is AN OINTMENT POURED FORTH, LIKE THE SAVOUR OF THY GOOD OINTMENTS. Thus is used, Josh. VII. 5. 1 Sam. XXV. 37. &c. [משכני אחריך נרוצה ·V. 4. Draw me, we will run after thee: 7708 120] All the ancient Versions seem to have had thefe Words in their Text, viz. Tana; for they all add here-on account of thine Ointments. V. 9. I have compared thee, O my Love, to a Company of Horfes in V.9. The Word [לססתי ברכבי פרעה דמיתיך רעיתי : .Pbaraob's Chariots nop occurs nowhere in SS. in this Form. The ancient Versions confider it as the fingular or plural Feminine with the Affix: but I think it may not improperly be conftrued as special with our Verfion, and of the Masculine Gender, as if it were written fully, DDS. The Comparison of a beautiful Woman to a Set of Horfes harneffed in a Chariot may perhaps appear uncouth to the refined Manners of this Age. But let it be remembered that the Greek and Latin Poets frequently compare the fame Object to an Heifer, a Creature far infe 002 rior |