48 



" Neih alonim, ualonoth, fecor eth ifi macum foth." 



which, by the way, forms a good rhime. This verfe however Gro- 

 novius tranflates after Petitus, " Inclinate, et advortite, o di, desque, 

 quorum fub numine viri hujus civitatis funt." Againfl the tranflation I 

 have nothing to oftcr, nor would it become me ; but it differs from Plautus's 

 own, though perhaps not much from Le Clerc's ; yet more literally it might 

 be TtnAcTtA, fuperosfuperafque adoro qui incolunt hum locum. Again I mufl 

 repeat, that I confider the old Phoenician to have differed but little from 

 the Hebrew j and were the text in the line before us well reftored, we 

 fliould fuppofe that not Hanno, but fome inhabitant of old Jerufalenx 

 were fpeaking. 



I would afk any orientalifl whether the verfe thus flightly amended, 

 be not genuine Hebrew, although perhaps it may not with Le Clerc, 

 have confulted the rhime? 



Were there a doubt that the Phoenician and Hebrew embraced the 

 rhime as languages, we have an indifputable proof that their colony at Car- 

 thage, notwithftanding their long mixture with Africans, had for feveral 

 hundred years, after the time of Plautus, retained a great deal of the 

 old dialeft of Tyre. The celebrated doftor of Hippoo, himfelf an African 

 and eloquently learned, fpeaking of Mefflah, exprefsly fays, " which 

 " word agrees with the Punic, as do many other Hebrew words, nay 

 almoji all of them." 



After fuch authority we mufl no longer doubt the clofe aifinity of 

 the two languages, or not conclude that the genius of the one tranf- 

 fufed itfelf into the other, commixing as it were, and fettling in it. This 

 then conceded, it follows that the charafteriftic rhime of the old cha- 

 raftered the new mufe, having been only tranfplanted ; like the vine, 

 that, paffmg from oae foil to aiother, changes its flavor, but retains 

 its original quality. 



Ifhall 



