appropriateness of the punishments, and to the moral of each event (to teach thee'; in Wisdom va yvŵow).1 We learn therefore from the Book of Wisdom something of the early history of the Midrash; and the constant points of contact between the author of the book and the Palestinian Exegetes confirm the hypothesis that its author was of Jerusalem.

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The subject has never, so far as I know, been worked; it is likely that it would be more profitable than the comparison of Wisdom with Greek philosophy.

The writer however must wait to know whether he is thought to have proved his case before drawing any further inferences.

1 c. xvii. introduces the account of the appropriateness of the punishment of the Egyptians with a quotation from Ps. lxvi. 3. It is remarkable that R. Jochanan introduced the same observation with the same quotation; Psikta, ed. Buber, p. 81a. In the same work there is a passage curiously like Wisdom

ביום שהיה בכורו של אחד מהם מת צר איקונין שלו בתוך ביתו 15 .xiv

on the day when the first-born of one of them died, he drew a picture of him in the midst of his house.' Hence àúpy éveel probably stands for.

ART. VII.-The Trisula Symbol. By WILLIAM SIMPSON, R.I., M.R.A.S.

Ir is only lately that the Trisula, or Trident, has attracted attention as a symbol. It so chances that for many years back I have collected matter connected with this subject, and have often wished to put it in form for publication, but want of time has always stood in the way of realizing this desire. Lately contributions dealing with the Trisula have appeared in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society from Mr. Sewell and Mr. Pincott,' and I feel urged to add some additional material to what they have given. I shall not be able to reproduce everything that I have gathered up, but my endeavour will be to give what seems to be important, or may throw light on the subject. As to a theory of origin, I have one it has long been formed in my mind, and up to the present I see no reason to reject it; or it might be expressed, that no better theory has as yet, so far as I know, been proposed.

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The symbol appears to me from what I have collected to have been very widely spread, so very ancient, and assumed such a variety of forms, that its first origin has been lost, and that now only a guess can be made as to its primitive signification. I quite agree with Mr. Pincott that the trisula is not necessarily connected with the chakra or wheel; and that to explain the two together might leave both unexplained, because they are separate symbols. As this paper may in a sense be considered a continuation of the papers by Mr. Sewell and Mr. Pincott, I need not repeat the illustrations they have given. If the number of forms I produce

1 J.R.A.S. Vol. XVIII. p. 364, Vol. XIX. p. 238. Fergusson, Cunningham, and others have touched upon the trisula in their works. Lately Le Comte Goblet D'Alviella, Professeur d'histoire des Religions à l'Université de Bruxelles, has published a short brochure entitled Le Trisûla ou Vardhamâna des Bouddhistes.

in this paper are accepted as variations of the trisula, it will have to be admitted that it is one of the most important symbols of the ancient world. I should be inclined to describe it as a universal symbol, for in one form or another it is found in almost all the old systems of mythology. The theory, which appears to me to be the most probable, that the trisula is a development of solar and lunar forms, as symbols of the creative power, would, I suggest, account to a certain extent for this universality. Whether this may be the correct explanation or not, I shall be able to show that a symbol of like form with the trisula had a high significance as a monogram or letter; that a similar form was a prominent feature on sceptres in the hands of gods, priests, and kings; and that, in whatever form it appears, it had a reference to the highest of the divine attributes. While admitting the value of Mr. Sewell's essay on the possible transmission of the trisula from one locality to another, it ought to be remembered that there are other symbols, as well as myths and folklore, which are involved in this consideration; and that the explanation of one point in this broad question is of little value unless it gave us some gleam of light on the whole. If we regard the Ei of Delphi as a trisula, we require a theory that would suggest to us why it was placed over the gate of a temple in that part of the world, and that trisulas were placed over the gates of stupas or temples in India. This similarity may have been the result of accident, but other examples of myths and folklore might be given which are equally puzzling, but whether they are all the result of chance, or that they imply a more intimate connection between ancient nations than we have yet realized, is a matter I hesitate to venture any opinion upon. The ordinary traffic between nations might account. for some of the identities; but it scarcely supplies a sufficient theory as yet to satisfy us regarding all that is known.

The first suggestion of identity with the trisula which I shall bring forward is that just alluded to of the Delphic E. In an old edition of Plutarch I have, the date of which is 1718, the essay on this subject is entitled, "Of the Word Ei,

Engraven over the Gate of Apollo's Temple at Delphi." Plutarch explains that although called El, it was only the letter E, the fifth letter of the alphabet. He says there was a golden one of Livia, wife of Augustus, and there was, or had been, a brazen one of the Athenians; to this he adds, "but the first and ancientest of all which is the wooden one." The word "engraven," as used above, would at first suggest that the letter was cut on the gate, but when the material of which it was formed is stated, it becomes more than probable that the symbol was a trisula, in form at least, and that it was placed "over the gate" of the temple. If this identification is accepted, how striking it becomes when compared with the trisulas over the gateways at Sanchi and Bharhut! It has also some force even in the case of the temples of Siva at the present day, where the trident is almost invariably placed, not on the entrance, but on the sikhara or spire. That the Eì of Delphi was a monogram only adds to the resemblance; for Sir Alexander Cunningham and others, although they vary in their interpretation, assume that the Buddhist trisula was also a monogram; 2 and there are other illustrations which can be produced of this symbol in that character.

It may be noticed that Plutarch's essay shows the symbol was not clearly understood in his time. Each of the persons he has introduced as discussing its meaning gives a different explanation; in this, Plutarch's essay bears a striking resemblance to the present discussion of the trisula; the writers show very divergent opinions, and as this results from the antiquity of the symbol and absence of direct information, so Plutarch's speakers were evidently in his time in a similar condition, and it would tend to show that then, as now, the symbol was so old, that its origin had been lost, and they

1 See Pl. I. Fig. 19. This is from a Gnostic gem, and as it is a Greek E it may be accepted as accurate enough.

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2 It may be worth noting that among the various meanings ascribed to the El, Plutarch seems to adopt that which ascribes to it the sense of Being," as an attribute of the Deity, as if it was intended to express on the part of the worshipper "Thou Art," or "He" that Is." From this some writers have identified the El with the Hebrew or IE, pronounced Jah, a form of the word Jehovah; the root of which is "to be," "to live," etc. It is easy to account for the transposition of the letters, by supposing that in one case they had been written from right to left, and in the other from left to right.