Mr. Roberts says: "Before a king goes to battle, he makes a sacrifice to the goddess of the royal family, whose name is Veerma Kali, in order to ascertain what will be the result of the approaching conflict, and likewise to enable him to curse his enemies. "In front of the temple are raised seven altars, near to which are seven vessels filled with water, upon each of which are mango leaves and a cocoa nut with its tuft on. Near to each altar is a hole containing fire. The victims, which may be seven, or fourteen, or twenty-one, consisting of buffalos, or rams, or cocks, are brought forward. A strong man strikes off the head of the victim at one blow, and the carcase is thrown into the hole of fire with prayers and incantations. The priest then goes into the temple and offers incense, and after some time, returns in a frantic manner, declaring what will be the result of the battle. Should the answer received be favourable, he takes a portion of ashes from each hole, and throwing them in the direction of the enemy, pronounces upon them the most terrible imprecations. "The number seven also is generally attended to by the poor in their offerings, or, if they cannot do that, they have always an odd number. Thus seven areka nuts, or the same number of limes, plantains, or of beetle leaves, or seven measures of rice will be presented." It is a notorious fact, that the prevailing customs of Hindostan are just the same at this moment as they were in times of the most primitive antiquity, and hence it is to be inferred that the same or very similar rites prevailed in India in the days of Balak, as were observed by the different nations of Canaan, before the Israelites expelled them from their land, and introduced a less obnoxious form of worship. CHAPTER XXX. Balaam's first prophecy. AFTER the sacrifices had been slain upon the high places of Baal, in accordance with the command of Balaam, the prophet having retired from the immediate place of sacrifice to a more secluded part of the mountain,* received the important revelation. It is said that "God met Balaam," as he was no doubt formerly wont to do, before the prophet had lapsed into heresy and listened to the solicitations of avarice. Almost immediately after, God is said to have 66 put a word in Balaam's mouth," or in other words, to have made him the agent of divine communication. It is clear, therefore, from this passage, that the Deity revealed to Balaam his immutable will respecting those whom that sordid man was anxious to execrate; and when the disappointed seer returned to Balak, who still stood by the altars of sacrifice, he delivered the following prediction: Balak, the king of Moab, hath brought me from Aram, Come, curse me Jacob, And come, defy Israel. See Numbers xxiii. 3. How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? And from the hills I behold him: Lo! the people shall dwell alone, And shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob And the number of the fourth part of Israel? And let my last end be like his ! It cannot fail to be observed how distinctly the parallels run through the whole of this prediction. Every second line is in direct parallelism with the one preceding it, being either a close exposition of it, or imparting to it a more obvious and extended signification. In the opening distich of the exordium, we find this beautifully exemplified, especially in Bishop Lowth's translation, which is so admirable that I shall without scruple introduce it here. The poetical form is very faithfully preserved : From Aram I am brought by Balak, By the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. Come, curse me Jacob, And come, execrate Israel. How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? And how shall I execrate whom God hath not execrated. For from the top of the rocks I see him, And from the hills I behold him: Lo! the people who shall dwell alone, Nor shall number themselves among the nations! Who shall count the dust of Jacob, Or the number of the fourth of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the righteous, Referring to the two first lines of the prophecy as here rendered, I would remark, that Aram was the country of Mesopotamia which lay to *See Fourteenth Prælection. the eastward of Moab, being towards Arabia rocky and mountainous. In the first verse of the opening couplet, we find the name of the country from which the prophet was brought simply stated, and likewise that of the Moabitish king. In the next there is an acknowledgment of Balak's dignity, and likewise the information conveyed of the peculiar locality of Balak's dwelling-place. From Aram I am brought by Balak, By the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. Here is an elegant inversion of the parallels; Aram and the mountains of the east, respectively commencing and terminating the first and second verses of the couplet: Balak and the king of Moab in like manner ending and commencing the first and second lines. There is evident design in this artificial distribution of the emphatic portions of the sentence, which shows that certain acknowledged laws of composition were fulfilled in this noble production of a poet who wrote upwards of three thousand years ago. These two verses form an agreeable epanode, though they do not precisely answer to Bishop Jebb's rationale of that poetical artifice, the principal members of each verse being embraced within the distich, instead of commencing and ending it. A trifling alteration would obviate this, without really disturbing the poetical arrangement, or in the slightest degree interfering with the sense, as thus By Balak am I brought from Aram, From the mountains of the east, by the king of Moab. |