if this shade of meaning was designed to be conveyed by Dionysius, would he not have written: βαπτισθέντος οὕτως εἰς τὸ αἷμα τοῦ ξίφους κ. τ. λ. ? However I do not consider the example as altogether certain, but adduce it as a probable one."

The passage seems to me attended with no difficulty. To a reader who is acquainted with Greek, I cannot perform a more acceptable service than by transcribing the whole sentence of Dionysius, as quoted by Gale. He is commenting on Homer, Il. XVI. 333, Πᾶν δ' ὑπεθερμάνθη ξίφος αἵματι, . . . . .

And the whole sword was warmed with blood.

66

He thus writes ; Πᾶν δ' ὑπεθερμάνθη ξίφος αἵματι. και γαρ εν τούτῳ παρέχει μείζονα ἔμφασιν, ὡς βαπτισθέντος οὕτω τοῦ ξίφους, ὥς τε θερμανθῆναι. That is ; “ In this expression he exhibits very great emphasis, as much as to say, the sword was so dipped, as even to become heated." Is the least violence, I ask, done to this passage by considering εἰς τὸ αἷμα as understood after οὕτω ? I need scarcely hint, how often writers omit what the mind of the reader will naturally and almost necessarily supply. Homer had used a very strong expression; his critical commentator, animated with the spirit of the author and participating in his feelings, uses another strong expression in order to make Homer's thought perfectly obvious. Let us sympathise with these two writers; let us place ourselves in the situation of a susceptible and feeling mind, endeavoring to exhibit and to illustrate the force of the poet's expression; and we cannot consider it as inappropriate to say, respecting the sword which had become heated by the blood of a slaughtered foe, that the sword was so dipped it became heated. And should the reader stop to think, dipped into what? how instantaneous and irresistible the reply, into the blood,

εἰς τὸ αἷμα. The absence of these words does not materially affect the sentence; and the meaning, dipped, is not forced, nor inappropriate. Perhaps a more suitable meaning, however, would be that which is furnished under the preceding number; namely, overwhelmed, or overflowed. The sentence would then stand thus; "the sword was so overflowed [with blood], as even to become heated.

The probability that ßantio0vTOS here shows that Bantico [baptizo] means "to smear, to bathe, by the application of liquid to the surface, etc.," is very small. Does such a meaning, ascribed to fanti, cast light on Homer's language? Or was not that word employed by the commentator, because in its natural and ordinary signification it would suggest to the mind a profusion of blood by which the murderous weapon was so enveloped, that it actually became warm to the hand which was wielding it?

"7. A shade of meaning kindred to the above, viz. to wash, i. e. to cleanse by the use of water, is sometimes attached to the word Bάnto, in the classics."

"Aristophanes, in Eccles. First they wash (Вáпτovσi) the wool in warm water, according to the old custom. The lexicographers Suidas and Phavorinus, interpret the word ẞúлtovσ here by лhúvovσi, they wash, or wash out; and Stephens says (ad voc. пhúvw), that ßánτw [bapto] is peculiarly spoken of garments, as louw is of the body, and viлt of the hands and feet."* Of course then the radical idea of ẞánτw is retained when it signifies to wash; and when thus employed, it signifies a washing with which dipping was connected.

Such are the classical meanings of fάnt [baрto] and

* P. 305.

Bantico [baptizo], as furnished and arranged by Prof. Stuart. Every one can see how conformable these meanings are to the radical idea of plunging, dipping, soaking. The signification to dye, to color, to tinge (ascribed to ẞáл), may to some appear a departure from this radical idea; but it arises unquestionably from that radical idea, inasmuch as articles to be colored are dipped into the coloring matter. And after the word came to be used in this signification, it was very natural that it should be employed to express coloring performed in any manner, especially if it was an extensive coloring.

It is also worthy to be remarked, that of all these seven meanings only two are illustrated by passages containing the word Bantico [baptizo], namely, numbers 1 and 5. To this remark, number 6 furnishes an apparent exception, one of whose illustrations contains the word; yet the word in this illustration is not only acknowledged to be "capable of being rendered dipped," but without doubt it means as much as a copious covering. Confining our view then to ẞanto, the following are its only meanings as used by classical writers;

1. To dip, plunge, or immerge into any thing liquid. 2. To overwhelm, literally and figuratively.

SECTION SECOND.

"Use of Bunt and ẞanilo in the Septuagint and the Apocrypha."

"1. The verb Bánto signifies to plunge, immerse, dip in."

"Lev. 11: 32, Every vessel [that is unclean], shall be PLUNGED (Baghoεtai) into water; Heb. 2, shall be

brought or introduced. 4: 6. And the priest shall DIP (Bayer) his finger into the blood; Heb. 2.

"Joshua 3: 15. The feet of the priests... were DIPPED (Bápnoav) into a part of the water of the Jordan; Heb.

“Ruth 2: 14, And thou shalt DIP (ẞayers) thy morsel in vinegar, (èv tô bεi, n); Heb. verb."

"In like manner Buntio [baptizo] takes the same signification. 2 K. 5: 14, And Naaman went down, and PLUNGED HIMSELF (αлlσατo) seven times into the river Jordan; Heb. 2. The prophet Elisha had said: λοῦσαι ἑπτάκις ἐν τῷ ̓Ιορδάνῃ, WASH THYSELF seven times in the Jordan, 2 K. 5: 10."* This direction of the prophet, Naaman complied with by repairing to the Jordan and dipping himself in it seven times.

"2. To smear over, or moisten by dipping in; in which sense I find ẞúлto only employed."

To sustain this meaning, the following passages are referred to. "Lev. 4:17. And the priest shall SMEAR OVER OF MOISTEN (Bayer) his finger, und roũ aiuatos, by, or with the blood of the bullock; Heb. 1.

"Lev. 14: 16, And he [the priest] shall SMEAR OVER (Bayer) his right finger with the oil, and τov éλalov; Heb.

“Ex. 12: 22, And MOISTENING or SMEARING it [the bundle of hyssop] with the blood (Bayarτes ånò toũ αἵματος).” †

In these several cases, there was doubtless a dipping into the blood, and into the oil, even if the idea of smearing was intended to be expressed. But the signification here ascribed to ẞán, namely, to smear over, is not satisfactorily sustained by the examples adduced.

The proper radical meaning, to dip, may here be retained. The Septuagint, in the first two passages, gives a literal rendering of the Hebrew expression; and the Hebrew preposition 1, for which the Greek άлò is here used, is often employed to express a partitive meaning; that is, it shows that a part of whatever is named was employed. This meaning is rightly expressed in our English version of Lev. 4: 17, And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood.

That the preposition is thus employed, needs not be largely proved. Gesenius, in his Hebrew Lexicon, observes, "Before 1, we must often supply the word some; Lev. 5:9. p some of the blood. Ex. 17:5,

”.some of the elders of Israel מִזִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל

Michaelis, in his edition of the Hebrew Bible, has this remark on the words 1 in Lev. 4: 17; "Into a part of the blood; literally, some of the blood. 1 is often thus used."*

Augusti and De Wette in their German translation of the Bible, a translation deservedly held in high estimation, though they have not given a literal version of the passages appealed to by Prof. Stuart, yet felt in no wise "constrained" to depart from the radical meaning of the verb. Thus, Lev. 4: 17 they render, And the priest shall DIP his finger into the blood; and 14: 16, And the priest shall DIP his right finger into the oil.†

It deserves also to be mentioned that the very same act, which is expressed in Lev. 4:17 by the words

pa, is, in verse 6th, expressed by the words

* In partem sanguinis. 1. aliquid de sanguine. Sic o saepe ponitur. + Lev. 4: 17, Und der Priester soll seine Finger in das Blut tauchen. 14: 16, Und der Priester soll seinen rechten Finger in das Oel tauchen.