The natural history of the Bible ; or, A description of all the quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles, and insects, trees, plants, flowers, gums, and precious stones, mentioned in the sacred scriptures: Collected from the best authorities, and alphabetically arranged / by Thaddeus Mason Harris.

  • Thaddeus Mason Harris
Date:
1824
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The natural history of the Bible ; or, A description of all the quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles, and insects, trees, plants, flowers, gums, and precious stones, mentioned in the sacred scriptures: Collected from the best authorities, and alphabetically arranged / by Thaddeus Mason Harris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    here rendered white occurs also Ezek. xxvii. 18, and only there, where it is spoken of wool ??, ‘These animals associate in herds, under a leader, and are very shy. ‘They inhabit the mountainous regions and desert parts of Tartary and Persia, &c. Anciently they were likewise found in Lycaonia, Phrygia, Mesopotamia, and Arabia Deserta”. They are remarkably wild; and Job, xxxix. 5—8, describes the liberty they enjoy; the place of their retreat, their manners, and wild, impetuous, and untamable spirit. * Who from the forest Ass his collar broke, And manumised his shoulders from the yoke? Wild tenant of the waste, E sent him there Among the shrubs to breathe in freedom’s air. Swift as an arrow in his speed he flies; Sees from afar the smoky city rise; Scorns the throng'd street, where slavery drags her load, The loud voiced driver, aud his urging goad : Where'er the mountain waves its lofty wood, A boundless range, he seeks his verdant food'5, > Xenophon, in his Anabasis, describing the desert of Arabia, says, * There, in a plain level as the sea, and devoid of trees, but every where fragrant with aromatic shrubs and reeds, he observed the wild asses which the horsemen were accustomed to chase, flying with unequal speed, so that the animals would often stop their course, and when the horsemen approached, disappear ; and they could not be taken, unless the horsemen, placing themselves in different parts, wearied them by relays in successive pursuits.” * Vain man would be wise, though he be born a wild ass's colt. Job, xi. 19. ND y oIR PARA, * ass-colt, not “ ass's colt; *» being in apposition with N?5, and not in government 76, The whole is a proverbial expression, denoting extreme per- versity and ferocity, and repeatedly alluded to in the Old 'l'es- 73 This corrects an error in Harmer, v. ii. p. 63. 7* Plin. Nat. Hist. l. viii. c. 69. 7» Scott's version. 7 It should be observed that the word in the original translated “ though he be born, should be rendered become, or turned into; and implies assuming or taking a new character. [See the use of the word in Prov. xvii. 17, and Bp. Patrick's note in his Paraphrase.] It isan Arabian phraseology. * Let the wild ass colt become a man. That is, as they explain it, Let a man who is intract- able, become gentle, humane, and docile. [See Schulten's Comment. in loc. Scott, and Good.] The verse should be read— That the proud may be made wise, And the colt of the wild ass become a man. There is a similar expression in Horace, [Art. Poet. v. 469]. Nec si retractus erit, jam Fiet homo. Nor if you bring him off his folly, will he thereupon become a man ; that is, act a rational part for the future. In a book now before me, by Dr. Edwards, ** On the Uncertainty, Deficiency, and Corruptions of Human Knowledge, Lond. 1714, at the 79th page this verse is thus printed. ; * Vain man would fain be wise, when he is born of a wild asses' colt. Here is probably a typographical error; but it created a smile that spoiled all the authority of the verse as a quotation to prove the hereditary depravity of mankind.
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