animals, and formed by nature to submit. They obey the shepherds, and the dogs, and even follow the goats. "h The oriental shepherd marches before his flock to the field, with his rod in his hand and his dog by his side; and they are so perfectly disciplined, that they follow him wherever he chooses to lead them. To facilitate the management of his charge, he gives names to his sheep, which answer to them, as dogs and horses answer to theirs in these parts of the world. The shepherds of Egypt select a ram to lead the flock, and suspend a bell from his neck that they may follow him with greater ease and certainty.' In Homer, a name was given only to a leader of the males, which was trained, when the shepherd called him by his name, to go before them. But in succeeding times names were given to both the males and females of the flock, although the practice of preparing the boldest and stateliest ram to lead them might continue. In a Greek pastoral, the shepherd Daphnis spake to the she-goats and addressed the he-goats by name. And in another part of the same poem, he called some of them out of the flock by their names:k μπορεί να σας αίγας προσειπε και τις τραγες εκάλεσεν ονομασί Όδε Δαφνις εκαλεσε τινας αυτών ονομά Theocritus mentions the names by which he addressed some of his flock : h De Nat. Animal. lib. vii, cap. 27. See also Artemidorus Oneirocr. xi, 12. Προβαλα ανθρωποις εοίκασι, δια το πείθεσθαι τω ποιμένι και συναυλιζεσθαι. i Richardson's Trav. vol. ii, p. 197. Aristotle mentions the same custom in his History, book vi, chap. 19. j Iliad, lib. iii. k Longus Pastoral. lib. iv, p. 136, 147, quoted by Lampe in his work on John, vol. ii, p. 623. Ουκ από τας δρυος ετος ο Καναρος ατε Κυναίθα "Wilt thou not leave the oak, Conarus, and thou Cynætha: Will ye not feed here towards the rising sun like Phalarus?" Here Conarus and Phalarus are the names of he-goats, Cynætha the name of a she-goat. The flocks in the island of Cyrnon ran off when a stranger approached them; but when the shepherd blew his horn, they immediately recognized the sound, and scampered towards the spot from whence it came. In Syria and Palestine, the sheep distinguish the voice of their keeper from that of a stranger, and follow his call with the same readiness as the flocks of Cyrnon the horn of their shepherds. These curious customs, our Lord beautifully applies to his own management, as the great shepherd of his church: "the sheep hear his voice; and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his sheep, he goeth before them; and the sheep follow him; for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers." The shepherds in those, as in other pastoral regions, frequently devoted a part of their leisure hours to the study and practice of music. With the pipe or the harp, they endeavoured to beguile the listless hours of the noon day; or, while they guarded the slumbering fold, the "Ite domum, saturæ, venit Hesperus, ite capellæ." Ecl. x, 77. John X, 5. VOL. II. D d lonely watches of the night. The son of Jesse, was, at an early period of life, renowned among the shepherds of Palestine for his exquisite skill in touching the harp. His superior abilities as a musician, procured him the dangerous honour of standing in the presence of Saul, and soothing his agitated mind into peace and comfort, with the ravishing tones of his favourite instrument. But his musical talents were often devoted to a nobler purpose, than allaying the distraction of a gloomy despot, or beguiling the lingering hours in the lonely wilderness; they were employed in setting to music the inimitable lyrics, which, under the direction of the divine spirit, he composed for the worship of his God, and in performing the sweet and solemn airs upon the harp. He invented several kinds of musical instruments, and improved others; but the instrument in which he seems to have chiefly delighted, was the harp with ten strings; of which number, it is probable, several were added by himself. It is a curious fact, that the Greek writers refer the invention of music to shepherds. Apollo, the inventor of the harp, according to some, tended for nine years the flocks of Admetus; Pan, another shepherd, invented the lyre, and Mercury, the pipe; both of whom, were in succeeding ages, adored as the deities who presided over pastoral affairs. In times long posterior to the age in which they flourished, the shepherds of the east were still renowned for their taste in poetry and music; of which, the Idylls of Theocritus, and the Eclogues of Virgil, are permanent and incontestible proofs. The pipe with six holes was more especially consecrated by the heathen to the service of their gods. On this instrument they played before the images Bochart. Hieroz. lib. ii, cap. 44, p. 461–465. of their deities. To this idolatrous practice the prophet seems to refer: "And the harp and the viol, and the tabret and pipe, and wine are in their feasts." All those instru ments were probably used in the same unholy worship. The oriental shepherd and his family sometimes take up their abode in caves, with which the country, particularly about Askelon, abounds. These caverns are often so capacious, as to admit the master and his whole property. In times of imminent danger, the people forsake their towns and villages, and retire with their wives and children, their flocks and herds, into these dark recesses, which have been from time immemorial, the refuge of the oppressed. It was in these hiding places, that Baldwin I. king of Jerusalem, in the barbarous age of the crusades, found the inhabitants of many villages, with their flocks and their herds, who had favoured the cause of his enemies, and fled at his approach." In Egypt such excavations appear to have been the settled abodes of a numerous and peaceful population. Dr. Richardson entered several mountain defiles on his way to Nubia, where he found" a number of excavations extremely well executed, covered with sculpture, and painted in the most brilliant colours; likewise a number of pits sunk perpendicularly into the rock, all of which have been used as burying places, and many of them still contain handsome mummy cases, made of wood and stone, beautifully painted in a variety of colours, and covered with curious devices." But besides these, "high up in the front, along the base of the mountain, and over the rocky flat, all the way from Medina Thabou, there are innumerable excavations, Isa. V, Ovid. Fast. i, 1. 11, and vi, 1. 652. 12. Blunt, p. 21, 444. " Harmer's Obs. vol. i, p. 181. many of them large and beautifully formed, painted, and sculptured with many curious devices, illustrative of an cient customs. In one place above Medina Thabu, the doors into these excavations are so numerous and so contiguous, that they resemble a row of houses in a village. They have a long piazza in front, and a large apartment within; and a long shaft running back into the rock. They rise in tiers above each other, according to the different elevations of the mountain. They have evidently been dwelling houses, and, from the shady piazza in front, the spectator enjoys the most delightful view that can possibly be obtained of the plain of Thebes." In Hindostan, too, the fainting inhabitants are forced to escape from the severe fervours of an eastern noon, into vast artificial caverns and into grottoes of the most refreshing coolness, which the great and the wealthy cause to be constructed in their gardens.P The Egyptian shepherds lived in booths constructed of reeds which lined the margin of their venerated river.a But the most common abode of the Syrian shepherd, is the tent. From the permanency of their customs, it is reasonable to suppose, that it was made in the same manner as the common Arab tents, which have only a pole or two to support them in the middle, and a single covering of black hair-cloth, which, though mean and coarse, effectually repels the rain and the dew. These, the Arabians call • Richardson's Trav. vol. ii, p. 64, 65. See another account of the excavations near Thebes, p. 73, 74. See also Diodorus Sicul. lib. i, p. 43, and Strabo, lib. xvii, p. 816. r P Maurice's Indian Antiq. vol. i, p. 59, 73. a Diodorus Sicul. lib. i, cap. 43. Volney's Trav. vol. i, p. 279. Kinneir's Geog. Mem. &c. p. 139. They are of the same colours in Persia. See also Niebuhr's Travels in Ara |