It was different anciently. Among the Greeks it was a sort of pantomime, a mimic representation of the common actions of life, and, in some instances, of deeds of war. It was accordingly admitted among the gymnastic sports. The dancers danced to the notes of the timbrel; they exhibited many inflections of the body, and many gesticulations with the hands; they danced, beating the floor in a circle, following the one they had chosen for a leader, with regular and artificial pulsations of the feet, Exod. xv. 20; Judg. xi. 34; 1 Sam. xviii. 6, 7; Jer. xxxi. 4, 13. Sometimes men who were singers or musicians, took a part in these dances; in this case the singers went first, those who played on instruments followed, and on each side were the damsels dancing, Psalm, lxviii. 25. The dance was called in Hebrew; it was practised on the national festivals, and formed part of the sacred worship. The princes and the nobles engaged in this ceremony, but did not mingle in it with the common multitude. This was the ground of the reproach, which Michal threw out against David, who danced before the ark in company with the rest of the people, 2 Sam. vi. 16-23. In the later periods of the Jewish history the kings and great men appear to have been rather the spectators than the parties in dances, see Mark, vi. 21-25.

NOTE. The art of oratory never flourished in the east. Paul, accordingly, when he appeared among the Greeks, who estimated eloquence very highly, although it was at that time fast declining, was not listened to with that deep interest, which otherwise he would have been. Paul, however, displays, in his speeches recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, a good arrangement, and no little skill in the art of persuasion.

H

CHAPTER VI.

ON THE SCIENCES.

§. 98. THE ORIGIN OF THE SCIENCES.

WHEN the arts had been reduced by long practice and meditation to fixed and definite rules, they were succeeded by the sciences; which in fact are nothing more than the reduction, into a more regular and philosophical form, of those rules and theories, which have been ascertained and approved by inquiry and practice. We are able to discover the beginnings, the indistinct vestiges of the sciences in very remote periods; and in some nations more strikingly than in others. The Egyptians and Babylonians excelled all others in scientific knowledge. The Arabians also are favourably spoken of in this respect; also the Edomites, Jer. xlix. 7. The Hebrews became renowned for their intellectual culture in the time of David, and more especially during the reign of Solomon, who is said to have surpassed all others in wisdom; which was the cause of his receiving so many visits from distinguished foreigners, 1 Kings, iv. 29, et seq. His example, which was truly an illustrious one, was beyond question imitated by other kings. The literature of the Hebrews was confined chiefly to ethics, religion, the history of their nation, and natural history; on which last subject, Solomon wrote many treatises no longer extant. The Hebrews made but little progress in science and literature after the time of Solomon. During their captivity, it is true, they acquired many foreign notions, with which they had not been previously acquainted; and they subsequently borrowed much, both of truth and of falsehood, from the philosophy of the Greeks. The author of the book of Wisdom, and other Jewish writers, made great use of the Greek philosophy. It is clear, however, that the Jews after the captivity fell below their ancestors in respect to history; as the published annals of that period are much inferior to those of the primitive ages of their country.

§. 99. HISTORY, GENEALOGY, AND CHRONOLOGY.

That the art of historical writing was anciently much cultivated in the east, the Bible itself is an ample testimony; for it not only relates the prominent events, from the creation down to the fifth century before Christ, but speaks of many historical books, which have now perished; and also of many monuments, erected in commemoration of remarkable achievements and furnished with appropriate inscriptions. These monuments are denominated by various names, as 2, 7, 17. The Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Persians, and Tyrians, had also their Historical Annals. Among the Egyptians, there was a separate order, viz. the Priests, one part of whose duty it was, to write the history of their country. In the primitive ages, in most nations, the annalists of the country were the priests; but at a later period the king had his own secretaries, whose special business it was to record the royal sayings and achievements. The prophets among the Hebrews recorded the events of their own times, and, in the earliest periods, the genealogists interwove many historical events with their accounts of the succession of families. Indeed, it should not be forgotten, that ancient history generally partakes more of a genealogical, than of a chronological character. Hence the Hebrew phrase for genealogies, , is used also for history, Gen. vi. 9; x. 1; and hence no epoch, more ancient than that of Nabonassar, is any where found. In the Bible, however, this defect in regard to a regular chronological system, is in some measure compensated by the insertion in various places of definite periods of time, and by chronological genealogies. In giving a concise account of the genealogy of a person, the Hebrews, as well as the Arabs, took the liberty to omit, according to their own pleasure, one or more generations, Ruth, iv. 18, 22; Ezra, vii. 1-5; Matt. i. 8. It was considered so high an honour, to have a name and a place in the family annals, that the Hebrews, from their first existence as a nation, had public genealogists, denominated,

שִׁיטְרִים

Not only the Hebrews, but, if we may credit Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, the Egyptians also, assigned a certain period to a generation. According to their estimation, three generations

made a hundred years. In the time of Abraham, however, when men lived to a greater age, a hundred years made a generation. This is clear from Gen. xv. 13, 16, and from the circumstance, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, dwelt two hundred and fifteen years in the land of Canaan, and yet there were only two generations.

§. 100. ARITHMETIC, MATHEMATICS, ASTRONOMY, AND

ASTROLOGY.

I. Arithmetic. The more simple methods of arithmetical calculation are spoken of in the Pentateuch, as if they were well known. The merchants of that early period must, for their own convenience, have been possessed of some method of operating by numbers. And that they were able to do it, to some considerable extent, may be inferred from the fact, that they had separate words, viz. 27, 27, for so large a number as 10,000, Gen. xxiv. 60; Lev. xxvi. 8; Deut. xxxii. 30.

II. Mathematics. By this we understand geometry, mensuration, navigation, etc. As far as a knowledge of these sciences was absolutely required by the condition and employments of the people, we may well suppose that knowledge to have actually existed; although no express mention is made of them.

III. Astronomy. The interests of agriculture and navigation required some knowledge of astronomy. An evidence, that an attempt was made at a very early period, to regulate the year by the annual revolution of the sun, may be found in the fact, that the Jewish months were divided into thirty days each, see Gen. vii. 11; viii. 4. In astronomy, the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Phoenicians exhibited great superiority. We are informed there were magicians or enchanters in Egypt, Exod. vii. 11; Lev. xix. 31; xx. 27; Deut. xviii. 10, denominated in Hebrew, WR, because they computed eclipses of the sun and moon, and pretended to the people, that they produced them by the efficacy of their own enchantments. Some of the constellations are mentioned by name, 2 Kings, xxiii. 5; Job, ix. 9; xxxviii. 31, 32; Is. xiii. 10; Amos, v. 8.

IV. Astrology. The Hebrews paid less attention to astronomy in consequence of the study of astrology, so intimately connected with that of astronomy, being interdicted to them; although it was highly estimated among the neighbouring nations, Lev. xx.

27; Deut. xviii. 10; Is. xlvii. 9; Jer. xxvii. 9; 1. 35; Dan. ii. 13, 48. Daniel, indeed, studied the art of astrology at Babylon, but he did not practise it, Dan. i. 20; ii. 2. The astrologers, (and those wise men mentioned in Matt. ii. 1, et seq., appear to have been such), divided the heavens into apartments or habitations, to each one of which apartments, they assigned a ruler or president. This fact developes the origin of the word BeeλeBoux, baby, or the lord of the (celestial) dwelling, Matt. x. 25; xii. 24. 27; Mark, iii. 22; Luke, xi. 15-19.

§. 101. DIVISION OF THE DAY AND NIGHT.

The Hebrews, in conformity with the Mosaic law, reckoned the day from evening to evening. The natural day, i. e., the portion of time from sunrise to sunset, was divided by the Hebrews, as it is now by the Arabians, into six unequal parts. These divisions were as follows:

I., also, the break of day. The portion of time was at a recent period divided into two parts, in imitation of the Persians; the first of which began, when the eastern, the second, when the western division of the horizon was illuminated. The authors of the Jerusalem Talmud divided it into four parts, the first of which was called in Hebrew, which occurs in Ps. xxii. 1, and corresponds to the phrase λíav «рwt in the New Testament, Mark, xvi. 2; John, xx. 1.

II., the morning, or sunrise.

III., the heat of the day. It began about nine o'clock, Gen. xviii. 1; 1 Sam. xi. 11.

IV. D, mid-day.

V., the cool of the day, literally the wind of the day, so called from a wind beginning to blow a few hours before sunset, and continuing until evening, Gen. iii. 8.

VI. ?, the evening. It was divided into two parts, 27; the first of which began, according to the Karaites and Samaritans, at sunset; the second, when it began to grow dark. But according to the Rabbins, the first commenced just before sunset; the second precisely at sunset. The Arabians agree with the Karaites and Samaritans; and in this way the Hebrews appear to have computed previously to the captivity.

Hours, , are first mentioned in Dan. iii. 6, 15. v. 5. Hours were first measured by gnomons, which merely indicated