20 The Rev. J. Hamilton on the Punic Passage in Plautus, 



The Punic Phraseology respecting the Abduction explicated. 



Yth byn ithii ahhi — dodain benothai — byr'n arob. We shall first consider 



the part translated in the Latin, and then explicate the Punic for which there is 



no Latin equivalent. 



Gnatas meas Fratris fillum Quae mihi surreptoe sunt. 



Latin, Filium Fratris Gnatas meas. 



Punic. yth Byn A Bynuthii 



r yth Ben - ahh ( Benothai 



Hehr. Chald.-!^ ^^ ^^ ^, | ,^^2^ 



This part of the clause explains itself, and requires no further explanation. 



Qua; mihi surreptce sunt, or, as it is expressed elsewhere in the play, 

 " surripuit eas," (^prcedo), he carried them off. 



In looking for a proper Hebrew equivalent for surripuit, we must bear in 

 mind, that it is not simply taking away, but, taking away or bereaving of chil- 

 dren, that is meant, taking away posterity. In this sense the Hebrew word 

 most frequently used is the word byr, "lyn. It is the pihel of nyi, and occurs 

 repeatedly in that sense in the first book of Kings ; surripuit eas, will be, accord- 

 ingly, pyn , Punic byrn. 



For the Latin of this clause we have thus given the Hebrew-Punic equivalent. 

 But certain Punic expressions remain for which no Latin is given, viz. : — 



Between "byn," son, and "a," of my brother, Ithii, "'''yriri"' yth thii. 



After "a," br other, 9iaA before " benuthii," daughters, Doedin, ^ilil dodain. 



Between " byr'n," he carried them off, and the fol- 

 lowing clause, Arob, :3^{^ ar'b. 



To explain these three expressions must be our next business ; and first, of 

 the expression Ithii, Yth-Thyii "^yri Ti^- 



Ithii, "I'lyn W Yth th'ii, " Errabundum," the estray. 

 The nephew, or ben-ahh, is, in the prologue of the Pcenulus, line 65, desig- 

 nated abditivus a patre, the estray, or decoyed one. So, of the surreptitious 



