because the transcribers introduced vowels ad libitum, and even consonants for the sake of the metre. Movers, we think, insisted too much on the vowels, and on the uniform value of certain consonants. Our own belief is that, for example, ch may equally represent, and P; for the distinct pronunciation of the gutturals, palatals, and dentals did not exist in the outlying districts, as is evident enough from the ridicule cast by the inhabitants of Judæa on the Galileans. We now proceed to give (1) the text as it stands in the pamphlet of Movers; (2) the Latin translation; (3) the Punic text amended; (4) the Hebrew transcription of this; (5) an English version; and (6) an explanation of the roots and forms which we adopt in our readings. 1. The more recent Text1. 1. Ythalonim ualonuth sicoratsima comsyth 2. Chym lah chunythmumys thyal mycthibaru imisehi 3. Lipho canethyth binuthu adaedin binuhu 4. Birnarob syllohomalonim uyby mysyrthoho 5. Bythlim mothyn moctothuulechanti dasmachon 6. Yssiddobrim thyfel yth. chyl! ys chon. them liphul 7. Uthbinim ysdibur thinnochutnu agorastocles 8. Ythemaneht ihy chirsae lychot sith naso 9. Bynny id chil luhily gubulim lasi bithym 10. Bodyalit heraym nynuys lymmonchoth lusim. II. The Latin translation of Plautus. 1. Deos Deasque veneror, qui hanc urbem colunt, [quæ mihi surreptæ sunt et fratris filium] 1 See for the variations, Movers, op. cit. pp. 17, 18. 8. Ad eum hospitalem hanc tesseram mecum fero 9. Is in hisce habitare monstratum est regionibus. 10. Hos percunctabor, qui hinc egrediuntur foras. III. The Punic Text emended. 1. Ith Alonim ualonoth si corath usi macom syth 5. Beth 'limoth ynno othi Thuelech Antidamas chon. 6. Yss dobri mthy yfel yth chyl ys chon them liphul 7. Uth binim ys diburth ino ochunu Agorastocles. 8. Yth emanethi hi chirs aelichoth itnaso 9. By ynny idchil luhily gubulim lasibthym 10. Abo odya li theraym ynnu uysl ymm onchot lusim IV. The Hebrew transcription. 1. אית אלנים ואלנות זה קרת וזה מקום זאת 2. חמלה אכון שתמם ישתלם איתי בעיר ומציאהי 3. לפה כאנת אית בנותי יחד הדין בן אחי 4. במר ובשליחים אלונים ובמשרתהו 5. בעת עלמות הנה אתי תהולך אנטידמס כון 6. יש דבר מאתו יפעל אית כל יש כון תם לפעל 7. אית בנם יש דברת הנה יכון אגרסטקלס 8. אית אמנתי היא חרס הליכות אתנשא 9. בי הנה אדכל לאלה גבולים לשבתם 10. אבא הודע לי תרעים הנה אשאל עם הנחת לשם. V. English translation of the emended text. 1. To the gods and goddesses of this city and this place this 2. prayer I make, that fully completed my coming into the town may be, and that I may find 3. here my daughters together with the son of my brother, 4. with [the assistance] of the Master, the envoys of the gods, and their servants, 5. At a former time I had here a guest-friend Antidamas: 6. it is said of him that he does all that it is possible to do. 7. His son, as it is said, is here, Agorastocles. 8. My testimonial, that is, the journey-tablet, I shall carry 9. with me. Behold, I will enter this district, to his lodging 10. I shall come, [as] it was told to me. There is a door, I will enquire of the people who are coming out. 1. VI. The commentary justifying the emended text. or by 'gods' see Sid. Inser. I. 9, 16, 21; Movers, op. cit. p. 59. אלנים . ;(74 .Miller, II) קרת .Phen קריה city, in Hebrew קרת or שקר from the root סקורת A good reading would be קרת this word is feminine, and we ought perhaps to restore Ni 'to see,' that is, 'the providence or protector of this place,' similar to the Pan of the Romans, but this may be too modern a thought. The reading interrupts the sentence, and is against Semitic construction. The reading worth mentioning. is not 2. is in Hebrew 'to pity,' like ; and as this root is employed for 'prayer' (Deut. iv. 23; 1 Kings viii. 54), we may take in the same sense. Dan is here an adverb, like D'an (Movers, op. cit. p. 67), expressing an emphasis, and renders the Latin word ritè. ' from 'to come,' like the מציאתי for מציאהי ;67 .for the c, see Movers, p באי Hebrew 'my finding;' it is possible that the was not in all Semitic idioms changed into, or else that the feminine form was expressed by the sound é, as in modern Syriac (see Ewald's Hebrew Grammar, 7th ed. p. 447). Perhaps we may supply a t in the Latin transcription, and read imisethi. Movers' reading, , is not Semitic at all. 3., as in the cod. Cam.; see Movers, op. cit. 71. 4. We read bymarob with the cod. Cam.; see Movers, p. 72. or master;' all three expressions refer probably to the theology of the Phoenicians. The Talmud often has the expression the angels of the service of God,' and the later Agadah mentions also for 'angel.' Theat the end of the word is omitted, or perhaps the The line in a parenthesis is in our opinion interpolated. .מר refers to עלמות .5 nomen abstractum, from by (Sid. Insc. I. 20), and signifies 'eternity.' as Movers, p. 77. תהולך 6. This line has been deciphered by Munk (see Renan, Hist. des langues Sémitiques, 3rd ed., p. 198) except the first three words, and proves that the language of Hanno is pure Phoenician. This must guide us in deciphering the other lines. an archaism often found in the Bible (see בנמו for בנם .7 Ewald's Hebrew Grammar, p. 618). 7 nomen abstractum, compare Eccles. vii. 14. The word innochutnu is difficult to explain; Ewald ingeniously reads 'is with us,' but 1 7137 against the Latin translation; besides, Hanno does not yet belong to the inhabitants of the city. 8. This line has been admirably deciphered by Ewald (Zeitschr. für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Vol. VI. p. 407), to whom the reader may be referred; we differ only in the last two words. and are here in the sense of tessera hospitalis. Compare the second scene of the fifth act, when Hanno says, 'Si ita est, me tesseram conferre si vis hospitalem, eccam! attuli.' Whether , properly 'a sherd,' has the sense of clay tablet' (compare the phrase in the older text, as Gesenius and Movers suggest, or whether it comes from or to engrave, and signifies here 'a mark,' as Ewald supposes (Zeitschr. für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Vol. VI. p. 24), we cannot decide; at all events the sense of 'testimonial' is sufficiently clear. לוח הליכות ‘a from the Arabic אדכל in the sense of behold הנה .9 dakhala, 'to enter.' The last words of this line have been de ciphered by Ewald and Movers; (see Renan, loc. cit.) D is again, see above, line 7. תרע 10. We here supply an a, and read abo. was already recognised by Gesenius; Ewald and Movers adopted the same word. is to be taken in the sense of D'IN, as in English 'people.', Hiphil from 'to descend,' and here in the sense of 'coming,' like 77 in Hebrew. The usage is derived from the custom of building towns on hills. AD. NEUBAUER. P.S. The January number of the Journal Asiatique for 1869 contains a study on the above passages by the wellknown Orientalist, M. J. Derenbourg, of Paris. A. N. [Since M. Neubauer's article was written, Dr Paul Schröder has published a discussion of the Punic passages in Plautus in the Appendix to his work Die Phönizische Sprache, Halle, 1869. W. A. W.] |