LT.-COL. G. MACKINLAY, ON THE EMPHASIS OF ST. LUKE. 245 



Professor D. S. Margoliouth, D.Litt., in the Iliad and in the 

 Odyssey, which both contain two-letter anagrams in iambic 

 verse, giving the name of Homer as author of each poem ; they 

 also contain a dedicatory prayer, and in one case a date.* 



An interesting fact about the Homeric anagrams is the hint 

 of their existence furnished by the inevitable presence of some 

 words, which are not so appropriate as those used elsewhere by 

 this poet ; thus, the very first word in tlie Iliad ixriviv, anger, 

 is not nearly so suitaljle as Kvho^, glory, which has been 

 suggested instead of it ; but this inauspicious word firjvtv has 

 evidently been employed because it furnishes two of the letters 

 required for Homer's name in the anagram. 



Cryptic writings occur in Scripture, as for instance in the 

 book of Eevelation. Many puzzling omissions are to be found 

 in other parts ; the name of God does not appear in the book of 

 Esther, except in acrostic form. There are omissions in all the 

 synoptic Gospels, of the interval of time, about six months, 

 between the end of the Temptation and our Lord's return to 

 Galilee, when John was imprisoned ; the account of the raising 

 of Lazarus is also omitted by all the first three Evangelists ; we 

 should know nothing of these events, except for John 

 (i, 29-iv, 54, xi, 1-44). The Gospel of Luke contains at 

 least two other important omissions without remark, the most 

 noticeable being the w^ell-known " Great Omission," between 

 verses 17 and 18 of Luke ix, of all the events related in Mark vi, 

 45-viii, 26, during a period of about six months. 



This being so, we must not be surprised if every Lukan tripli- 

 cation cannot be discovered at once ; we must not hastily deny 

 its existence, because its components are not always close 

 together, or even if there is a retrogression in narrative ; and we 

 must not expect our Evangelist to point out plainly what he has 

 done. A good writer, especially among the ancients, not 

 infrequently leaves his meaning in some obscurity, so that a 

 little thought and trouble must be expended by the reader in 

 finding out the meaning, which, when once grasped, is thus 

 impressed upon the attention and memory. This is certainly 

 true of the Scriptural writers, whose full meanings are not to be 

 found by the casual reader, but only by him who ponders 

 carefully and prayerfully. 



Triplications alaound in the Gospel of Luke and in the Acts, 



* " The Life and Work of Homer," Trans. Victoria Institute, vol. xlvii, 

 1915, p. 35. 



