26 THE HOG. 



old man, * who understood the wisdom of the Greeks,' that thero 

 would be no overcoming the adverse party while they employed 

 themselves in the service of God ; and therefore one morning he 

 put a hog in the box, instead of a lamb. When half way up, the 

 pig reared himself up, and happened to rest his fore feet upon the 

 temple wall, whereupon continues the story, Jerusalem and the land 

 of Israel quaked. In consequence of this, two orders were issued 

 by the Council : ' Cursed / be he that breedeth hogs ;' and ' Cursed 

 be he who teacheth his son the learning of the Greeks.' Such is 

 the origin of the order against rearing hogs, as related in the Baby- 

 lonian Talmud. One of the enforcements of this prohibition is 

 curious, as showing for what purposes besides sale, hogs had been 

 reared by the Jews. ' It is forbidden to rear any hog, even though 

 hogs should come to a man by inheritance, in order to obtain profit 

 from its skin or from its fat, for anointing or for light.' From this 

 it would seem that the Jews had been wont to make ointments with 

 hog's lard, and that they did not exclusively use oil for lights, but 

 fat also, which was probably done according to a method we have 

 often seen in the East, by introducing a wick into a lump of grease, 

 which is set in a lamp, or in a round hollow vessel, made for the 

 purpose ; the heat of the kindled wick, as in a candle, gradually 

 melts as much of the fat as is required to feed the flame. The in- 

 convenience of the deprivation of the useful lard of hogs for this 

 and other purposes, seems to have given occasion to an explanation, 

 that the prohibition was not to be understood to imply that the fat 

 of hogs might not be obtained by purchase from the Gentiles. The 

 prohibition of keeping hogs does not appear to have had complete 

 effect, as regulations are made concerning towns in which hogs were 

 kept ; and the keepers of swine are mentioned as contemptible and 

 infamous wretches, so that it was a favorite term of abuse to call 

 a person a hog-breeder or a swineherd. Although, therefore, 

 it may be likely that the herds of swine here mentioned were the 

 property of the heathen, who certainly did live with the Jews in 

 the towns of this neighborhood, (the country of the Gadarenes,) it is 

 not impossible that they belonged to the Jews, who kept them in 

 despite of the prohibitions we have mentioned." 



Among the ancient Egyptians, although the figure of the hog 

 occurs several times well drawn at Edfou, this animal was held in 

 detestation. " Swine," says Herodotus, " are accounted such impure 

 beasts by the Egyptians, that if a man touches one even by acci- 

 dent, he presently hastens to the river, ac-d in all his clothes plunges 

 himself into theVater. For this reason, swineherds alone of the 

 Egyptians are not suffered to enter any of their temples ; neither 

 will any man give his daughter in marriage to one of that profession, 

 nor take a wife born of such parents, so that they are necessitated 

 to intermarry among themselves. The Egyptians are forbidden to 



