CH. XII.] THE LOCUST, ETC. 175 



It is no wonder, then, that from the earliest times, 

 means have been resorted to to mitigate the horrors 

 which the locust occasions. Pliny states that there 

 was a law in Cyrene which compelled the inhabi- 

 tants to destroy these creatures three times in the 

 year; the first in their egg state, the second when 

 they were hatched, and the third when the insect 

 was mature. The inhabitants of Lemnos were 

 obliged to bring a certain number to the authorities. 



It is after the perusal of the above that we recog- 

 nise the description given by the prophet Joel of 

 their devastations, as sublimely characteristic : " A 

 day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds 

 and of thick darkness, as the morning opened upon 

 the mountains : a great people and a strong. A fire 

 devoureth before them, and behind them a flame 

 burneth. The land is as the garden of Eden before 

 them, and behind them a desolate wilderness ; yea, 

 and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of 

 them is as the appearance of horses, and as horse- 

 men so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots 

 on the tops of mountains, so shall they leap ; like the 

 noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as 

 a strong people set in battle array. They shall run 

 like mighty men ; they shall climb the wall like men 

 of war. And they shall march every one on his 

 ways, and they shall not break his ranks ; neither 

 shall one thrust another. They shall walk every 

 one on his path, and when they fall upon the sword 

 they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and 

 fro in the city. They shall run upon the wall. They 

 shall climb up upon the houses. They shall enter 

 in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall 

 quake before them : the heavens shall tremble : the 

 sun and moon shall be dark, and the stars shall with- 

 draw their shining." 



The neighbourhood of Aries in France was so in- 

 fested by locusts, that a reward was offered for so 

 much weight of them killed, and in twenty days the 



