ments, which Dorcas had made to clothe poor necessitous ob jects. It was these iparia or upper garments, consisting of a loose square piece of cloth wrapped round the body, which that vast multitude, which escorted Jesus in that triumphant procession into the capital, spread in the public road by way of carpet.2 Plutarch informs us, that the same affectionate respect and reverence was paid to Cato. "When Cato's expedition was ended, he was escorted not only with the customary praises and acclamations, but with tears and the tenderest endearments, the populace SPREADING THEIR GARMENTS UNDER HIS FEET wherever he walked, and with affectionate fervour kissing his hands,-testimonies of public respect which the Romans at that time showed to very few of their commanders."-A person divested of his upper garment, in the eastern language is styled naked, notwithstanding his being clothed in a tunic or under garment. Thus David is represented to dance naked before the ark in the sight of all Israel-not that we can suppose the monarch to be stripped naked and to be guilty of such public indecency and folly-the term only denotes that he had laid aside his upper garment. In like manner it is said of Simon Peter, that when he heard it was the Lord, he immediately girt his fisher's coat about him, for he was naked. (John xxi. 7.) But this mode of speaking is not peculiar to the Easterns: it is of very frequent occurrence in the Greek and Roman classics.5-That garment of our Saviour, which is described to be woven without seam from the top to the bottom, is very improperly in our translation called a coat it was his tunic or under garment (xrwa), and pro

1 Acts ix. 39.

2 'Ο δε πλείστος οχλος ΕΣΤΡΩΣΑΝ ἑαυτων τα ιματια εν τη όδω. Matt. xxi. 8.

3 Επει δε τέλος είχεν ἡ στρατεία τω Κατωνι, προεπέμφθη, ουκ ευχαις, δ κοινον εστιν, ουδε επαινοις, αλλα δακρυσι και περιβολαις, απληστοις, υποτίθεντων τα ιματια τοις ποσιν η δαδίζοι, Kai Karagiλouvrov Tas Xupas. Plutarch in Catone Jun. p. 402. Edit. Gr. 8vo. So also Clytemnestra orders her servant to spread garments in the road, in order to grace and honour the return of Agamemnon.

Δμωαι, τι μελλεθ ̓ αἷς επεσταλται τελος

Πεδον κελευθου στρωννύναι πετασμασιν ;

Ευθυς γενεσθω πορφυρόστρωτος πορος

Es dwu. Eschyli Agamemnon, ver. 917. See also ver. 930.

See also Stanley on ver. 918. in Editione Pauw. 1745.

4 2 Sam. vi. 20. For it is expressly said, a few verses before that, when he thus danced before the Lord he was girded with a linen ephod, ibid. ver. 14.

5 The word yuuvos in Greek, and nudus in Latin, is frequently employed not to denote a person absolutely naked, but only stripped of his upper garment, or slightly clothed. Nudus ara sere nudus. Virgil. Georg. I. ver. 299.

Euripidis Rhesus, ver. 313.

· Πολυς δ' οχλος

ΓΥΜΝΗ ὁμαρτει Θρηκιαν ἔχων ΣΤΟΛΗΝ.

Δελφύνην τοξοισι πελωρεον εξενάριξεν
Κουρος εων ετι γυμνος.

Andron. Rhodius, lib. 2. ver. 709. Hoelzlin. L. Bat. 1641.

Αμυδις δ ̓ ελε παμφάνωσαν
Χαλκειην πηληκα θοων εμπλειον δδόντων,

Και ξιφος αμφ' ωμοις γυμνος δεμας. lib. iii. ver. 1280. Ευμαρως αρπλούς και γυμνους τους Αργείους απέκτεινεν. Polyæni Stratag. p. 21. Ούτως εγώ, έχει, γυμνος ὑμῖν έστηκα, ὑμεῖς δ' ενοπλοι. p. 35. Τα σώματα αυτων δραν μεν ουδεν πλέον, άτε τας αυτός

bably was the elaborate work and affectionate gift of one of those pious and beneficent women who attended his ministry; as it is well known the fair sex made all the apparel of those times, and we find ladies of the first rank and distinction thus usefully employed. When Jesus was seized, we read that a young man, excited by the tumult and disturbance that was made in the dead of night, hastily threw about him a linen garment, issued from the house to learn the occasion of this confusion, and followed the crowd for some time. But the officers, who apprehended Jesus, thinking him one of his companions, immediately seized him: upon which he left his garment in their hands, fled away naked, and thus narrowly made his escape from them.2

By the Mosaic constitution in Numb. xv. 37-40. the Israelites were enjoined to put a tassel to each of the four corners of the large piece of cloth, which they used as an upper garment, that they might remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them. A similar exhortation is recorded in Deut. vi. 8. compared with Exod. xiii. 16. But, in succeeding ages, these injunctions were abused to superstitious purposes; and the phylacteries, or strips of parchment with portions of the law inscribed upon them, (which they wore either bound round their wrists and their foreheads, or attached to the borders of their garments,) were converted to superstitious uses, and regarded as a kind of amulets, or charms, for preserving the person, and warding off evils. The practice of inscribing passages of the law upon the door-posts of their houses, is said to be still continued by the Mohammedans in Judæa and Syria.3

V. All the Grecian and Roman women, without distinction, wore their hair long. On this they lavished all their art, disposing it in various forms, and embellishing it with divers ornaments. In the antient medals, statues, and basso-relievos, we behold those plaited tresses which the apostles Peter and Pauls condemn, and see those expensive and fantastic decorations which the ladies of those times bestowed upon their head-dress. This pride of braided and plated tresses, this ostentation of jewels, this vain display of

ἡμῖν χειρας εχοντα, πασχειν δε πολυ πλεω, ότε και μεγαλα και γυμνα οντα, δυνήσεται. Dion Cassius, lib. xxxviii. p. 185. Reimar. Cicero says that Anthony came naked into the Forum. Γυμνος, ω πατερες, γυμνος και μεμυρισμενος εις την αγοραν εισήλθε. Dion Cassius, lib. xlv. p. 439. Hamburg. 1750.

1 Andromache, Helen, Electra, Livia, the wife of Augustus, &c.

2 Mark xiv. 51. Non de Apostolorum grege-sed ex villâ aliqua horto proximâ, strepitu militum excitatus, et subito accurrens, ut conspiceret quid ageretur. Grotius ad Marc xi. 51.

3 See Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible, vol. ii. voce Phylacteries.

4 Κομην μεν επι σω κρατι ταναον εκτενω. Euripidis Bacchæ, ver. 829. Βαθειαν κατα· κεχυμένοι των κομην γυναικων δίκην. They wear their hair long and flowing like women. Strabo, lib. iii. p. 154. Paris. 1620. Anλws d' h nepɩ ras kopas piλorexvia συνέστηκε περί τε θρεψεν, και κουραν τριχος αμφω δε, και κόραις και κοροις εστιν οικεία. Strabo, p. 467. Casaubon. Ο γαρ θεος την μεν γυναικα λειαν ηθελεσεν ειναι, αυτοφυή τη κομη PORN MOTED (TROV In xairn yavpoμevny. Clem. Alex. Pædag. lib. iii. p. 224. Paris, 1529.

5 Pet. iii. 3. Εμπλοκης τριχων----Μελλε δε μακρους

Mežaσbai ndokaμous. She was going to plait her long tresses. Andron. Rhodius. lib. iii. v. 46. edit. 1641.

St.

finery, the apostles interdict, as proofs of a light and little mind, and inconsistent with the modesty and decorum of Christian women. Paul, in his first Epistle to Timothy, in the passage where he condemns it, shows us in what the pride of female dress then consisted. I will, says he, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with BROIDERED HAIR, or GOLD, or PEARLS, or COSTLY ARRAY: but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. St. Peter in like manner ordains, that the adorning of the fair sex should not be so much that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or putting on of apparel but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. On the contrary, the men in those times universally wore their hair short, as appears from all the books, medals, and statues, that have been transmitted to us. This circumstance, which formed a principal distinction in dress between the sexes, happily illustrates the following passage in St. Paul (1 Cor. xi. 14, 15.), Doth not even nature itself teach you, that if a MAN have LONG HAIR, it is a SHAME to him. But if a WOMAN have LONG HAIR, it is a GLORY to her for her hair is given her for a covering.

•

The Jewish and Grecian ladies, moreover, never appeared in public without a veil. Hence St. Paul severely censures the Corinthian women for appearing in the church without a veil, and praying to God uncovered, by which they threw off the decency and modesty of the sex, and exposed themselves and their religion to the satire and calumny of the heathens. The whole passage beautifully and clearly exhibits to the reader's ideas the distinguishing customs which then prevailed in the different dress and appearance of the sexes. (Compare 1 Cor. xi. 3-16.)3

Long hair was in great esteem among the Jews. The hair of Absalom's head was of such prodigious length, that in his flight, when defeated in battle, as he was riding with great speed under the trees, it caught hold of one of the boughs; in consequence of which he was lifted off his saddle, and his mule running from beneath him, left him suspended in the air, unable to extricate himself. (2 Sam. xviii. 9.) The plucking off the hair was a great disgrace among the Jews; and, therefore, Nehemiah punished in this manner those Jews who had been guilty of irregular marriages, in order to put them to the greater shame. (Neh. xiii. 25.)

The Jews wore their beards very long, as we may see from the example of the ambassadors, whom David sent to the king of the Ammonites, and whom that ill-advised king caused to be shaved by way of affront. (2 Sam. x. 4.) And as the shaving of them was ac

1 Αρσεσιν ουκ επέοικε κομη.—Phocylides, ver. 290.

2 Κεκαλυφθω τα παντα πλην ει μη οικοι τυχοις. Cl. Alexand. Padag. lib. iii. p. 256. Paris. Again, the same father giving directions concerning the fair sex, says, Oudev γαρ μέρος ότι ουν απογυμνούσθαι γυναικος, ευπρεπες. p. 204. edit. 1629.

3 Dr. Harwood's Introduction, vol. ii. pp. 98-103.

counted a great indignity, so the cutting off half their beards, which made them still more ridiculous, was a great addition to the affront, in a country where beards were held in such great veneration.

In the East, especially among the Arabs and Turks, the beard is even now reckoned the greatest ornament of a man, and is not trimmed or shaven, except in cases of extreme grief. With them a shaven beard is reputed to be more unsightly than the loss of a nose; and a man, who possesses a reverend beard, is in their opinion, incapable of acting dishonestly. If they wish to affirm any thing with peculiar solemnity, they swear by their beard; and when they express their good wishes for any one, they make use of the ensuing formulaGod preserve thy blessed beard! From these instances, which serve to elucidate many other passages of the Bible besides that above quoted, we may readily understand the full extent of the disgrace wantonly inflicted by the Ammonitish king, in cutting off half the beards of David's ambassadors. Niebuhr relates, that if any one cut off his beard, after having recited a fatha, or prayer, which is considered in the nature of a vow never to cut it off, he is liable to be severely punished, and also to become the laughing-stock of those who profess his faith. The same traveller has also recorded an instance of a modern Arab prince having treated a Persian envoy in the same manner as Hanun treated David's ambassadors, which brought a powerful army upon him in the year 1765.2 The not trimming of the beard was one of the indications by which the Jews expressed their mourning. (2 Sam. xix. 24.)

VI. Their legs were bare, and on the feet they wore sandals, or soles tied in various manners around the foot, which they pulled off on entering a sacred place (Josh. v. 15.), as the Mohammedans do to this day. It is also commonly observed in visits to great men; the sandals or slippers being pulled off at the door, and either left there or given to a servant to bear. It was customary among the Romans to lay aside their shoes when they went to a banquet. The servants took them off their masters' feet when they entered the house, and returned them when they departed to their own habitations. Among the Jews, when a guest arrived, he was immediately conducted into a room, the servants untied his sandals, and were employed in washing his feet from the defilement of mire and dust. (Gen. xviii. 4. xix. 2. xxiv. 32. Luke vii. 44.) As this was usually the office of the lowest order of servants, this well known custom will particularly illustrate two passages of sacred Scripture. Referring to this usage, the Baptist told those who were deputed from the Sanhedrin to interrogate him, whether be were the Messiah, who was then the object of universal expectation, that there came one after him whose shoe-latchet he was not worthy to stoop down to unloose (Luke iii. 16.); meaning, that the Messiah, who had now made his appearance among them, was a person of such dignity of nature and character, that he did not

1 Description de l'Arabie, p. 61.

2 Ibid.

deem himself worthy of performing for him the most humble and servile office. Another passage of Scripture, on which the knowledge of this custom sheds light and beauty, is that in which our Lord is represented as abruptly rising from the paschal supperstripping off his upper garment-girding himself with a towel, as the servants of those times were pouring water into a basin, washing his disciples' feet (John xiii. 4, 5.), and wiping them with the towel he had tied about him. Proceeding in a regular order, when he came to Simon Peter, he said to him: Lord, thou shalt never wash my feet -you shall never debase and degrade yourself to perform to me such an office-the office of the meanest, lowest slave. After he had washed their feet, put on his clothes, and resumed his place at table, he then addressed himself to them. Do you know the instruction I intended to convey to you by this action? You honour me with the titles of your instructor and master, and the appellations are just, and due to my character. If I then your exalted instructor have demeaned myself to wash your feet, you ought in like manner to condescend to perform the humblest offices one to another. The language of this public figurative action, which thus taught them humility in the most amiable and condescending manner, would seal stronger impressions upon their minds than all the verbal instructions and didactic precepts which could have been inculcated.

VII. Although the garments antiently worn by the Jews were few in number, yet their ornaments were many, especially those worn by the women. The prophet Isaiah, when reproaching the daughters of Sion with their luxury and vanity, gives us a particular account of their female ornaments. (Isa. iii. 16-24.) The most remarkable were these: The frontal jewel, which, though it was fastened on their foreheads, yet hung down lower, whence it is called a nose-jewel. (ver. 21.) This is mentioned by Ezekiel. (xvi. 12.) The ear-ring was one of the love-tokens presented to Rebecca in the name of Isaac (Gen. xxiv. 22.): it was an ornament worn by the men as well as the women, as appears from Gen. xxxv. 4.1 and Exod. xxxii. 2.; and by other nations as well as the Jews, as is evident from Numb. xxxi. 50. and Judg. viii. 24. It should seem that this ornament had been heretofore used for idolatrous purposes, since Jacob, in the injunction which he gave to his household, commanded them to put away the strange gods that were in their hands, and the ear-rings that were in their ears. (Gen. xxxv. 2. 4.)

Another female ornament was a chain about the neck (Ezek. xvi.

1 It is probable that the ear-rings or jewels, worn by Jacob's household, had been consecrated to superstitious purposes, and worn perhaps as a kind of amulet. It appears that rings, whether on the ears or nose, were first superstitiously worn in honour of false gods, and probably of the sun, whose circular form they might be designed to represent. Maimonides mentions rings and vessels of this kind, with the image of the sun, moon, &c. impressed on them. These superstitious objects were concealed by Jacob in a place known only to himself. Grotius on Gen. xXXV. 4. Calmet's Dictionary, vol. ii. voce Ring.