14 BABYLONIAN LITEEATITEE. 



garcls its source, the apparent contradictions 

 of the work could be reconciled. It was in 

 pursuance of this idea that I ventured ] to 

 throw some doubt on the antiquity of the 

 compilation of " The Book of INabathaean 

 Agriculture," while willingly admitting 

 that it might contain a certain amount 

 of very ancient matter. Professor Ewald 

 agrees with me in thinking that the book 

 might be considered as the work of suc- 

 cessive hands and many revisions. 2 It is, 

 he contends, the sole method of defend- 

 ing the antiquity of some parts of the book 

 against the overwhelming objections which 

 arise from some others where the influence 

 of Alexandrian Hellenism cannot possibly 

 be ignored. As to the conjecture of M. 

 Paul de Lagarde, 3 formerly hazarded by M. 

 J. Niclas, according to which " The Nabathsean 

 Agriculture" was nothing but a translation 



1 "Histoire generale des Lanques Semitiques" (1855), 1. III. c. 

 ii. sect. 1 ; and in the " Memoires de 1' Acaderaie des Inscriptions," 

 t. XXIII., 2nd part, p. 330 (1858). 



2 "Goettingen gel. Anzeigen" (1857, Nos. 9 and 10) ; 1859, p. 

 1456. 



3 "De Geoponica vers. Syriaca" (Lipsire, 1855), pp. 18, 19 and 2-i. 



