The Works of Sir Thomas Browne Volume II Part 16

CHAPTER XXI

Of the Picture of _Haman_ hanged.

In common draughts, _Haman_ is hanged by the Neck upon an high Gibbet, after the usual and now practised way of suspension, but whether this description truly answereth the Original, Learned pens consent not, and good grounds there are to doubt. For it is not easily made out that this was an ancient way of Execution, in the publick punishment of Malefactors among the _Persians_; but we often read of Crucifixion in their Stories. So we find that _Oroetes_[6] a _Persian_ Governour crucified _Polycrates_ the _Samian_ Tyrant. And hereof we have an example in the life of _Artaxerxes_ King of _Persia_; (whom some will have to be _Ahasuerus_ in this Story) that his Mother _Parysatis_ flead and crucified her _Eunuch_. The same also seems implied in the letters patent of King _Cyrus_. [SN: _In_ Ezra 6.] _Omnis qui hanc mutaverit jussionem, tollatur lignum de domo ejus, et erigatur et configatur in eo._

[6] _Oroetes_, 1672, 1686, etc.

The same kind of punishment was in use among the _Romans_, _Syrians_, _Egyptians_, _Carthaginians_ and _Grecians_. For though we find in _Homer_, that _Ulysses_ in a fury hanged the strumpets of those who courted _Penelope_, yet is it not so easie to discover, that this was the publick practice or open course of justice among the _Greeks_.

And even that the _Hebrews_ used this present way of hanging, by illaqueation or pendulous suffocation in publick justice and executions; the expressions and examples in scripture conclude not beyond good doubt.

That the King of _Hai_ was hanged, or destroyed by the common way of suspension, is not conceded by the learned _Masius_ in his comment upon that text; who conceiveth thereby rather some kind of crucifixion; at least some patibulary affixion after he was slain; and so represented unto the people untill toward the evening.

Though we read in our translation, that _Pharaoh_ hanged the chief Baker, yet learned expositors understand hereby some kind of crucifixion, according to the mode of _Egypt_, whereby he exemplarily hanged out till the fowls of the air fed on his head or face, the first part of their prey being the eyes. And perhaps according to the signal draught hereof in a very old ma.n.u.script of _Genesis_, now kept in the Emperors Library at _Vienna_; and accordingly set down by the learned _Petrus Zamberius_, in the second Tome of the description of that Library.

When the _Gibeonites_ hanged the bodies of those of the house of _Saul_, thereby was intended some kind of crucifying, according unto good expositors, and the vulgar translation: _crucifixerunt eos in monte coram domino_; many both in Scripture and humane writers might be said to be crucified, though they did not perish immediately by crucifixion: But however otherwise destroyed, their bodies might be afterward appended or fastned unto some elevated engine, as exemplary objects unto the eyes of the people: So sometimes we read of the crucifixion of only some part, as of the Heads of _Julia.n.u.s_ and _Albinus_, though their bodies were cast away.

That legal Text [SN: Deut. 21.] which seems to countenance the common way of hanging, if a man hath committed a sin worthy of Death, and they hang him on a Tree; is not so received by Christian and Jewish expositors.

And as a good Annotator of ours [SN: Ainsworth.] delivereth, out of _Maimonides_: The _Hebrews_ understand not this of putting him to death by hanging, but of hanging of a Man after he was stoned to death; and the manner is thus described. After he is stoned to death, they fasten a piece of timber in the Earth, and out of it there commeth a piece of wood, and then they tye both his hands one to another, and hang him unto the setting of the Sun.

Beside, the original word _Hakany_ determineth not the doubt. For that by _Lexicographers_ or _Dictionarie_ interpreters, is rendred suspension and crucifixion; there being no _Hebrew_ word peculiarly and fully expressing the proper word of crucifixion, as it was used by the _Romans_; nor easie to prove it the custom of the _Jewish_ Nation to nail them by distinct parts unto a Cross, after the manner of our SAVIOUR crucified: wherein it was a special favour indulged unto _Joseph_ to take down the Body.

_Lipsius_[7] lets fall a good caution to take off doubts about suspension delivered by ancient Authors, and also the ambiguous sence of ??e?sa? among the _Greeks_. _Tale apud Latinos ipsum suspendere, quod in crucem referendum moneo juventutem_, as that also may be understood of _Seneca_. _Latrocinium fecit aliquis, quid ergo meruit? ut suspendatur._ And this way of crucifying he conceiveth to have been in general use among the _Romans_, until the latter daies of _Constantine_, who in reverence unto our SAVIOUR abrogated that opprobrious and infamous way of crucifixion. Whereupon succeeded the common and now practised way of suspension.

But long before this abrogation of the Cross, the _Jewish_ Nation had known the true sense of crucifixion; whereof no Nation had a sharper apprehension, while _Adrian_ crucified five hundred of them every day, until Wood was wanting for that service. So that they which had nothing but _crucifie_ in their mouths, were therewith paid home in their own bodies: Early suffering the reward of their imprecations, and properly in the same kind.

[7] _Zipsias_, 1672.

CHAPTER XXII

Compendiously of many questionable Customs, Opinions, Pictures, Practices, and Popular Observations.

[Sidenote: _The ground of many vain observations._]

1. If an Hare cross the high way, there are few above threescore years that are not perplexed thereat: which notwithstanding is but an Augurial terror, according to that received expression, _Inauspicatum dat iter oblatus Lepus._ And the ground of the conceit was probably no greater than this, that a fearful animal pa.s.sing by us, portended unto us some thing to be feared: as upon the like consideration, the meeting of a Fox presaged some future imposture; which was a superst.i.tious observation prohibited unto the _Jews_, as is expressed in the Idolatry of _Maimonides_, and is referred unto the sin of an observer of Fortunes, or one that abuseth events unto good or bad signs; forbidden by the Law of _Moses_[SN: Deut. 18.]; which notwithstanding sometimes succeeding, according to fears or desires, have left impressions and timerous expectations in credulous minds for ever.

[Sidenote: _The Emblem of superst.i.tion._]

2. That Owls and Ravens are ominous appearers, and pre-signifying unlucky events, as Christians yet conceit, was also an Augurial conception. Because many Ravens were seen when _Alexander_ entred _Babylon_, they were thought to pre-ominate his death; and because an Owl appeared before the battle, it presaged the ruin of _Cra.s.sus_. Which though decrepite superst.i.tions, and such as had their nativity in times beyond all history, are fresh in the observation of many heads, and by the credulous and feminine party still in some Majesty among us. And therefore the Emblem of Superst.i.tion was well set out by _Ripa_[SN: Iconologia de Caesare Ripa.], in the picture of an Owl, an Hare, and an Old Woman. And it no way confirmeth the Augurial consideration, that an Owl is a forbidden food in the Law of _Moses_; or that _Jerusalem_ was threatned by the Raven and the Owl, in that expression of _Esay_ 34.

That it should be a court for Owls, that the Cormorant and the Bittern should possess it, and the Owl and the Raven dwell in it. For thereby was only implied their ensuing desolation, as is expounded in the words succeeding; He shall draw upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.

3. The falling of Salt is an authentick presagement of ill luck, nor can every temper contemn it; from whence notwithstanding nothing can be naturally feared: nor was the same a general prognostick of future evil among the Ancients, but a particular omination concerning the breach of friends.h.i.+p. For Salt as incorruptible, was the Symbole of friends.h.i.+p, and before the other service was offered unto their guests; which if it casually fell, was accounted ominous, and their amity of no duration.

But whether Salt were not only a Symbole of friends.h.i.+p with man, but also a figure of amity and reconciliation with G.o.d, and was therefore observed in sacrifices, is an higher speculation.

4. To break the egg sh.e.l.l after the meat is out, we are taught in our childhood, and practise it all our lives; which nevertheless is but a superst.i.tious relict, according to the judgment of _Pliny_, _Huc pertinet ovorum, ut exorbuerit quisq; calices protinus frangi, aut eosdem coclearibus perforari_; and the intent hereof was to prevent witchcraft; for lest witches should draw or p.r.i.c.k their names therein, and veneficiously mischief their persons, they broke the sh.e.l.l, as _Dalecampius_ hath observed.

5. The true Lovers knot is very much magnified, and still retained in presents of Love among us; which though in all points it doth not make out, had perhaps its original from the _Nodus Hercula.n.u.s_, or that which was called _Hercules_ his knot, resembling the snaky complication in the caduceus or rod of _Hermes_; and in which form the Zone or woollen girdle of the Bride was fastned, as _Turnebus_ observeth in his _Adversaria_.

6. When our cheek burneth or ear tingleth, we usually say that some body is talking of us, which is an ancient conceit, and ranked among superst.i.tious opinions by _Pliny_. _Absentes tinnitu aurium praesentire sermones de se receptum est_, according to that distick noted by _Dalecampius_.

_Garrula quid totis resonas mihi noctibus auris?

Nescio quem dicis nunc meminisse mei._

Which is a conceit hardly to be made out without the concession of a signifying _Genius_, or universal _Mercury_; conducting sounds unto their distant subjects, and teaching us to hear by touch.

[Sidenote: _The original of the proverb_, Under the Rose be it, _etc._]

7. When we desire to confine our words, we commonly say they are spoken under the Rose; which expression is commendable, if the Rose from any natural property may be the Symbole of silence, as _n.a.z.ianzene_ seems to imply in these translated verses:

_Utq; latet Rosa Verna suo putamine clausa, Sic os vincla ferat, validisq; arctetur habenis, Indicatq; suis prolixa silentia labris:_

And is also tolerable, if by desiring a secrecy to words spoke under the Rose, we only mean in society and compotation, from the ancient custom in Symposiack meetings, to wear chaplets of Roses about their heads: and so we condemn not the _German_ custom, which over the Table describeth a Rose in the cieling. But more considerable it is, if the original were such as _Lemnius_, and others have recorded; that the Rose was the flower of _Venus_, which _Cupid_ consecrated unto _Harpocrates_ the G.o.d of silence, and was therefore an Emblem thereof, to conceal the pranks of Venery; as is declared in this Tetrastick;

_Est Rosa flos veneris, cujus quo facta laterent, Harpocrati matris, dona dicavit Amor; Inde Rosam mensis hospes suspendit Amicis.

Convivae ut sub ea dicta tacenda sciant._

8. That smoak doth follow the fairest, is an usual saying with us, and in many parts of _Europe_; whereof although there seem no natural ground, yet it is the continuation of a very ancient opinion, as _Petrus Victorius_ and _Causabon_ have observed from a pa.s.sage in _Athenaeus_: wherein a _Parasite_ thus describeth himself:

_To every Table first I come, Whence Porridge I am cal'd by some: A Capaneus at Stares I am, To enter any Room a Ram; Like whips and thongs to all I ply, Like smoake unto the Fair I fly._

9. To sit cross leg'd, or with our fingers pectinated or shut together, is accounted bad, and friends will perswade us from it. The same conceit religiously possessed the Ancients, as is observable from _Pliny_.

_Poplites alternis genibus imponere nefas olim_; and also from _Athenaeus_, that it was an old veneficious practice, and _Juno_ is made in this posture to hinder the delivery of _Alcmena_. And therefore, as _Pierius_ observeth, in the Medal of _Julia Pia_, the right hand of _Venus_ was made extended with the inscription of _Venus, Genetrix_; for the complication or pectination of the fingers was an Hieroglyphick of impediment, as in that place he declareth.

10. The set and statary times of pairing of nails, and cutting of hair, is thought by many a point of consideration; which is perhaps but the continuation of an ancient superst.i.tion. For piaculous it was unto the _Romans_ to pare their nails upon the Nundinae, observed every ninth day; and was also feared by others in certain daies of the week; according to that of _Ausonius_, _Ungues Mercurio_, _Barbam Jove_, _Cypride Crines_; and was one part of the wickedness that filled up the measure of _Mana.s.ses_, when 'tis delivered that he observed times. [SN: 2 Chron.

33.]

11. A common fas.h.i.+on it is to nourish hair upon the mouls of the face; which is the perpetuation of a very ancient custom; and though innocently practised among us, may have a superst.i.tious original, according to that of _Pliny_, _Naevos in facie tondere religiosum habent nunc multi._ From the like might proceed the fears of poling Elvelocks or complicated hairs of the head, and also of locks longer than the other hair; they being votary at first, and dedicated upon occasion; preserved with great care, and accordingly esteemed by others, as appears by that of _Apuleius, Adjuro per dulcem capilli tui nodulum._

12. A custom there is in most parts of _Europe_ to adorn Aqueducts, spouts and Cisterns with Lions heads: which though no illaudable ornament, is of an _Egyptian_ genealogy,[8] who practised the same under a symbolical illation. For because the Sun being in Leo, the flood of _Nilus_ was at the full, and water became conveyed into every part, they made the spouts of their Aqueducts through the head of a Lion. And upon some clestial respects it is not improbable the great Mogul or _Indian_ King doth bear for his Arms a Lion and the Sun.

[8] geneologie, 1658, 1669, geneology, 1672.

[Sidenote: _Symbolical significations of the girdle._]

13. Many conceive there is somewhat amiss, and that as we usually say, they are unblest until they put on their girdle. Wherein (although most know not what they say) there are involved unknown considerations. For by a girdle or cincture are symbolically implied Truth, Resolution, and Readiness unto action, which are parts and vertues required in the service of G.o.d. According whereto we find that the _Israelites_ did eat the Paschal Lamb with their loins girded; and the Almighty challenging _Job_, bids him gird up his loins like a man. So runneth the expression of _Peter_, Gird up the loins of your minds, be sober and hope to the end: so the high Priest was girt with the girdle of fine linnen: so is it part of the holy habit to have our lines girt about with truth; and so is it also said concerning our Saviour, Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. [SN: Isa.

11.]

Moreover by the girdle, the heart and parts which G.o.d requires are divided from the inferior and concupiscential organs; implying thereby a memento unto purification and cleanness of heart, which is commonly denied from the concupiscence and affection of those parts; and therefore unto this day the _Jews_ do bless themselves when they put on their zone or cincture. And thus may we make out the doctrin of _Pythagoras_, to offer sacrifice with our feet naked, that is, that our inferiour parts and farthest removed from reason might be free, and of no impediment unto us. Thus _Achilles_, though dipped in Styx, yet having his heel untouched by that water; although he were fortified elsewhere, he was slain in that part, as only vulnerable in the inferiour and brutal part of Man. This is that part of _Eve_ and her posterity the devil still doth bruise, that is, that part of the soul which adhereth unto earth, and walks in the paths thereof. And in this secundary and symbolical sense it may be also understood, when the Priests in the Law washed their feet before the sacrifice; when our Saviour washed the feet of his Disciples, and said unto _Peter_, If I wash not thy feet thou hast no part in me. And thus is it symbolically explainable, and implyeth purification and cleanness, when in the burnt offerings the Priest is commanded to wash the inwards and legs thereof in water; and in the peace and sin-offerings, to burn the two kidneys, the fat which is about the flanks, and as we translate it, the Caul above the Liver. But whether the _Jews_ when they blessed themselves, had any eye unto the words of _Jeremy_[SN: Jer. 13.], wherein G.o.d makes them his Girdle; or had therein any reference unto the Girdle, which the Prophet was commanded to hide in the hole of the rock of _Euphrates_, and which was the type of their captivity, we leave unto higher conjecture.

[Sidenote: _Certain_ Hereticks _who ascribed humane figure unto G.o.d, after which they conceived he created man in his likeness._]