1876.] R. Maclagan— On Marly Asiatic ffire Weapons. 49 



Ixxvi, 3. " The arrows of the how" might be translated " the glowing 

 fires", or "the glittering or flashing (arrows) of the bow", "or rather perhaps", 

 says Parkhurst, " the ptkrj ireTrvpoyfxiva, fiery or fire-bearing arrows, such 

 as it is certain were used in after times. So Montanus, j acuta ignita."* 

 The Psalm belongs to the century before Manu, or a little more than ten 

 centuries B. C, if the Asaph with whose name it is connected was the con- 

 temporary of David. And to a time about three centuries later, the end 

 of the eighth century B. C, if he was Asaph, " the recorder" of King 

 Hezekiah's time. But it seems most probable, notwithstanding Parkhurst 's 

 suggestion, that in this instance no reference to fire arrows is intended. 

 Though the literal rendering may be as above, it may be only a poetical 

 figure of a not uncommon kind.f A more probable reference to fire-bearing 



* Parkhurst, Heb. Lex. s. v. rpi , the meanings of which, as a noun he gives as 

 "red hot coal", " glowing fire", " flashes of lightning". Gesenius translates it flame, 

 and refers to its use in Psalm Ixxviii. 48. The same word in Arabic, ^^ rishq, 

 is interpreted by Golius, " Jactus rapidior vel vibramen teli. Certus jaculandi sen 

 petendi modus." The LXX render the words referred to, in Ps. Ixxvi. 3, rh Kpir-r] tup 

 rS&it, followed by the Vulgate, potentias arcuum. 



f Thus in other Psalms we have, by a sort of reverse simile, arrows used for lighte- 

 ning (Ps. xviii. 14; cxliv. 6. Also Hab. iii. 11 ; Zech. ix. 14). In the Tdrikh i Ya- 

 mint, " arrows ascending towards them like flaming sparks of fire." (Dowson's Elliot, 

 II, 34.) The idea of flame or lightning is attached to bright and quick-moving weapons 

 of various kinds. Thus in Nahum iii. 3. A similar figure probably is intended in 

 Gen. iii. 24, so also Virgil's 



vaginaque eripit ensem 



Fulmineum (Ma. IV. 580). 



" The sword is in'your hands. Let Jessulmer he illumined by its blows upon the 

 foe." (Tod's Bajasthan, II, 251). The epithet blazing is mentioned by Eajendralala 

 Mitra as applied in a passage of the Big Veda (IV, 93) to swords, lances, and other 

 weapons. (Antiquities of Orissa, I, 119.) Khwandmir, in a description of a battle, 

 speaks of the " flame-exciting spears," (Habib us-siyar. Dowson's Elliot, IV, 172). 

 And 'Pmsuri of Balkh, in one of his odes, " Hadst thou seen his spears gleaming like 

 tongues of flame through black smoke, &c." (Elliot, IV, 516). And Homer II. X, 153, 

 thus rendered by Chapman, in prosaic fashion telling us it was a reflection— 

 His spear fixed by him as he slept, the great end in the ground, 

 The point that bristled the dark earth casta reflection round, 

 Like pallid lightnings thrown from Jove . 



Pope, more happily, 



Par flashed their brazen points 



Like Jove's own lightning. 



" In that arrow the terrible god hurled forth the fire of wrath, &c." (Mahddeva's 

 Equipment for Battle, Muir's Sanscrit Texts, IV, 225.) This too is probably figurative 

 fire, though it is added that he discharged it against the castle of the Asuras, and the 

 Asuras were burnt up, p. 226. 



Krishna and Arjun are sent by Mahadeva to a lake where he had deposited his bow 

 and arrows. They see two serpents, one vomiting flames. The serpents change their 

 form and become bow and arrows, p. 186. 



a 





