Philistines. duced originally out of their own soil. This island was well peopled in the time of the Trojan war. Homer calls it the island with a hundred cities. The city of Gaza in Palestine went by the name of Minoa (Steph. Byzant. in Gaza), because Minos king of Crete coming into that country, called this ancient city by his own

Anc. part,

vol. i. p. 408, &c.

name.

Herodotus acknowledges that the Cretans were originally all barbarians, and did not come from Greece. Homer says, that a different language was spoken in the isle of Crete; that there were Greeks there, true or ancient Cretans, Pelagians, &c. The ancient Cretans are the same as the Cherethites, the Pelasgians as the Philistines or Pelethites of the Scripture: their language was the same with that of the Canaanites or Phoenicians, that is, Hebrew: they were descended, as well as Canaan, from Ham, by Mizraim (Gen. x. 6, 13, 14.). The manners, arms, religion, and gods of the Cretans and Philistines were the same. The arms of the one and the other were bows and arrows. Dagon the god of the Philistiues was the same as the Dictynna of the Cretans.

Whether these arguments are convincing, it is not for us to determine; but Wells does not think they are, as he is of the same opinion with the authors of the Universal History, who say, that Coptus, the name of an old city of Egypt, is a corruption of the ancient Caphtor. It is not, however, of great importance to determine whether they came from Crete, from Cappadocia, or from Egypt: they had certainly been a considerable time in the land of Canaan, when Abraham arrived there in the year of the world 2083. They were then a very powerful people, were governed by kings, and in possession of several considerable cities. The race of kings then in power were honoured with the title of Abimelech. This race, however, was but of short duration; for their monarchy became an aristocracy of five lords, who were, as far as we can discover, partly independent of each other, though they acted in concert for the common cause. This form of government was again succeeded by another race of kings, distinguished by the title of Achish, though they also bore that of Abimelech. The kings were always under great limitations. The Philistines appear to have been a very warlike people, industrious, and lovers of freedom; they did not circumcise, and in the early periods of their history held adultery in the greatest abhorrence. "Their character (say the authors of the Universal History) must be considered at different periods; for we may say they were not always the same people. In the days of Abraham and Isaac, they were without all doubt a righteous and hospitable nation: but afterwards a revolution in government, religion, and morals, may have ensued. thenceforward they became like other idolatrous nations; the same enormities crept in and prevailed among them.

From

They are constantly mentioned in Scripture as strangers; Philistines. and, though possessed of a very considerable part of the Land of Promise, yet God would never suffer them to be driven out, they being Egyptians by descent, and not original natives, whose land only was promised to Abraham and his seed. Their arrogance and ambition were great; and so irreconcileable was their enmity (a) tỏ the Israelites, that one would be almost tempted to think they were created on purpose to be a thorn in their sides; for though the hand of God was evidently against them several times, and particularly when they detained the ark, yet they hardened their hearts, and closed their eyes against conviction. They seem to have entertained a very fond veneration for their deities, in which they persisted, though they were eye witnesses of the shame and ignominy which befel them in the presence of the captive ark; nay, they were so biassed in their favour, as to imagine that their gods might prevail against Him who had in so glaring a manner put them to shame and disgrace. They were much engaged in trade; which, considering their situation, they may have exercised from the beginning; but, by the accession of the fugitive Edomites in David's time, they rose to so great a reputation as merchants, that the Greeks, it seems, preferred them to all other nations in that respect, and from them called all the country bordering on theirs Palestine. Their language was not so different from that spoken by the Hebrews as to cause any difficulty for them to converse together, as will be perceived by their intercourse with Abraham and Isaac; so that, in all this region, the several nations spoke one and the same tongue, perhaps with some variation of dialect. They had doubtless the arts and sciences in common with the most learned and ingenious among their contemporaries, and perhaps some of them in greater perfection. They had giants among them; but whether they were originally of the breed of the Anakims, who retired hither when they were expelled from Hebron, or were sprung from accidental births, is not easily determined. We must not forget, that the invention of the bow and arrow is ascribed to this people.

"Their religion was different at different times; under their first race of kings, they used the same rites with the Hebrews. Abimelech, in the sin he had like to have committed with Sarah, through Abraham's timidity, was favoured with a divine admonition from God; and, by his speech and behaviour at that time, it seems as if he had been used to converse with the Deity. In after-times, they fell into endless superstitions, and different kinds of idolatry; each of the principal or five cities seemed to have an idol of its own. Marna, Marnas, or Marnash, was worshipped at Gaza, and is said to have migrated into Crete, and to have become the Cretan Jupiter. Dagon was worshipped at Azotus; he seems to have been the greatest, the most ancient, and

most

1

comprehended in the number of nations devoted to ex- ihilistines. termination, and whose territory the Lord bad abandoned to the Hebrews; nor were they of the cursed seed of Philo. Canaan. However, Joshua did rot forbear to give their lands to the Hebrews, and to set upon them by command from the Lord, because they possessed a country which was promised to the people of God (Josh. xv. 45. -47. and xiii. 2, 3.). But these conquests of Joshua must have been ill maintained, since under the Judges, under Saul, and at the beginning of the reign of David, the Philistines oppressed the Israelites. True it is, Shamgar, Samson, Samuel, and Saul, made head against them, but did not reduce their power; and they continued independent down to the reign of David, who subjected them to his government.

Philistines, most favourite god they had; to which may be added, that he perhaps subsisted the longest of any that did not straggle out of the country. To him they ascribed the invention of bread-corn, or of agriculture, as his name imports. We cannot enter into the common notion of his being represented as a monster, half man half fish ; nor consequently into another, almost as common, that he is the same with the Syrian goddess Derceto, who, we are told, was represented under some such mixed form. Our opinion is, that this idol was in shape wholly like a man; for we read of his head, his hands, and his feet. He stood in a temple at Azotus, and had priests of his own who paid him a very constant attendance. Next to Dagon was Baalzebub the god of F.kron. In the text of the New Testament he is called Beelzebub, and the prince of devils. His name is rendered lord of flies; which by some is held to be a mock appellation bestowed on him by the Jews; but others think him so styled by his worshippers, as Hercules Apomyios and others were, from his driving those insects away; and urge, that Ahaziah, in his sickness, would scarcely have applied to him, if his name had carried in it any reproach. But it must be remembered, it is the sacred historian that makes use of that contemptuous term in derison; whereas the idolatrous monarch, who was one of his votaries, might call him by his common name, supposed to have been Baal-zeboath, the lord of armies,' or Baal-shamin, ' lord of heaven," or some other bordering on Baal-zebub. How, or under what form he was represented is uncertain: some place him on a throne, and attire him like a king; others paint him as a fly. Not to dwell on this obscurity, it appears that he became an oracle of the highest repute for omniscience and veracity; that he had priests of his own; and that he, in the middle times at least, was much sought after by those who were anxious about fu turity. Derceto we take certainly to have been the goddess of Ascalon; but we are supported by profane authority, without the least countenance from Scripture. Gath is seemingly the only city of all the five unprovided with a deity; wherefore, as the Scripture declares, that Ashtaroth, or Astarte, was worshipped by this people, we are ready to place her at Gath, and the father, as this of all their cities may have had most commünication with Sidon. To speak in general concerning their religious rites and ceremonies, which is all we can do, they seem to have erected very large and spacious temples, or very wide halls, for the celebration of their solemn seasons and festivals (for such they surely had); their religious offices were attended with much pomp, and a great concourse from all parts; and they presented their gods with the chief part of their spoil, and carried them about with them when they went to war. We do not find in Scripture that they sacrificed their children; and yet the Curetes (B) are said to be their descendants."

With respect to the history of this extraordinary people, we find from the above extract, that they were not

They continued in subjection to the kings of Judah down to the reign of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat; that is, for about 246 years. However, Jehoram made war against them, and probably reduced them to his obedience again; because it is observed in Scripture, that they revolted again from Uzziah; and that this prince kept them to their duty during the time of his reign (2 Chron. xxi. 16. and xxvi. 6, 7.). During the unfortunate reign of Ahaz, the Philistines made great havock in the territories of Judah; but his son and successor Hezekial subdued them (2 Chron. xxviii. 18. and 2. Kings xviii. 8.). Lastly, they regained their full liberty under the latter kings of Judah; and we may see by the menaces denounced against them by the prophets Isaiah, Amos, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, that they brought a thousand hardships and calamities upon the children of Israel: for which cruelties God threatened to punish them. Esarhaddon besieged Ashdod or Azoth, and took it (Isa. xx. 1.). And according to Herodotus, Psammeticus king of Egypt took the same city, after a siege of 29 years. There is great probability, that Nebuchadnezzar, when he subdued the Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and other nations bordering upon the Jews, reduced also the Philistines. After this, they fel! under the dominion of the Persians; then under that of Alexander the Great, who destroyed the city of Gaza, the only city of Phoenicia that durst oppose him. After the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Asmonæans subjected under their obedience several cities of the Philistines; and Tryphon gave to Jonathan Maccabæus the government of the whole coast of the Mediterranean, from Tyre, as far as Egypt, which included all the country of the Philistines.

PHILLYREA, Mock-PRÍVET; a genus of plants belonging to the diandria class. See BOTANY Index. PHILO, an ancient Greek writer, was of a noble family among the Jews, and flourished at Alexandria during the reign of Caligula. He was the chief of an embassy sent to Rome about the year 42, to plead the cause of the Jews against Apion, who was sent by the Alexandrians to charge them with neglecting the honours due to Cæsar. Caligula, however, would not allow him to speak, and behaved to him in such a manner that Philo

was

VOL. XVI. Part 1.

was in considerable danger of losing his life. Others again tell us that he was heard; but that his demands were refused. He afterwards went to Rome in the reign of Claudius; and there, Eusebius and Jerome inform us, he became acquainted with St Peter, with whom he was on terms of friendship. Photius adds, that he became a Christian, and afterwards, from some motive of resentment, renounced it. Great part of this, however, is uncertain, for few believe that St Peter was at Rome so early as the reign of Claudius, if he ever was there

at all.

was a man

Philo was educated at Alexandria, and made very great progress in eloquence and philosophy. After the fashion of the time, he cultivated, like many of his nation and faith, the philosophy of Plato, whose principles he so thoroughly imbibed, and whose manner he so well imitated, that it became a common saying, "Aut Plato philonizat, aut Philo platonizat." Josephus says, he "eminent on all accounts:" and Eusebius describes him," copious in speech, rich in sentiments, and sublime in the knowledge of holy writ." He was, however, so much immersed in philosophy, particularly the Platonic, that he neglected the Hebrew language, and the rites and customs of his own people. Scaliger says, that Philo "knew no more of Hebrew and Syriac than a Gaul or a Scythian." Grotius is of opinion, that "he is not fully to be depended on, in what relates to the manners of the Hebrews:" and Cudworth goes further; for "though a Jew by nation (says he), he was yet very ignorant of Jewish customs." Fabricius thinks differently; for though he allows some inadvertencies and errors of Philo with regard to these matters, yet he does not see a sufficient foundation on which to charge so illustrious a doctor of the law with ignorance. He allows, however, that Philo's passion for philosophy had made him more than half a Pagan; for it led him to interpret the whole law and the prophets upon Platonic ideas; and to admit nothing as truly interpreted which was not agreeable to the principles of the academy. Besides, this led him farther; he turned every thing into allegory, and deduced the darkest meanings from the plainest words. This most pernicious practice ORIGEN, it is known, imitated, and exposed himself by it to the scoffs of Celsus and of Porphyry. Philo's writings abound with high and mystical, new and subtile, farfetched and abstracted, notions; and indeed the doctrines of Plato and Moses are so promiscuously blended, that it is not an easy matter to assign to each his principles. There are certainly, however, in his works many excellent things. Though he is continually Platonising and allegorising the Scriptures, he abounds with fine sentiments and lessons of morality; and his morals are rather the morals of a Christian than of a Jew. History, together with his own writings, give us every reason to believe that he was a man of great prudence, constancy, and virtue.

His works were first published in Greek by Turnebus at Paris 1552. A Latin traslation made by Gelenius was afterwards added, and printed several times with it. The Paris edition of 1640 in folio was the best for a

whole century; which made Cotelerius say, that "Phi- Philocles lo was an author that deserved to have a better text and a better version." In 1742, a handsome edition of his Philolaus. work was published at London by Dr Mangey in two volumes folio; which is certainly preferable if it were only for the paper and print, but it is not so good a one as Philo deserves.

Many of our readers may be desirous of further details respecting this celebrated man; we refer such therefore to Josephus's Antiquities, Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, St Jerome's work De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis, Fabricius Bibl. Græc, Cave Hist. Liter. and vol. ii. of Monuments of the Greek Church.

PHILOCLES, an admiral of the Athenian fleet during the Peloponnesian war. He recommended to his countrymen to cut off the right hand of such of the enemies as were taken, that they might be rendered unfit for service. His plan was adopted by all the ten admirals except one; but their expectations were frustrated, and instead of being conquerors they were totally defeated at Egospotamus by Lysander, and Philocles was put to death with the rest of his colleagues.

PHILOCTETES, in fabulous history, the son of Paan, was the faithful companion of Hercules; who at his death obliged him to swear not to discover the place where his ashes were interred, and presented him with his arrows dipped in the Hydra's blood. The Greeks at the siege of Troy being informed by an oracle that they could never take that city without those fatal arrows, went to Philoctetes, and insisted upon his discovering where he had left his friend; when Philoctetes, to evade the guilt of perjury, let them know where Hercules was intombed, by stamping upon the place: but he was punished for the violation of his oath, by dropping an arrow upon that foot; which, after giving him great agony, was at length cured by Machahon. He was afterwards taken by Ulysses to the siege of Troy, where he killed Paris with one of his arrows.

PHILOLAUS, of Crotona, was a celebrated philosopher of antiquity, of the school of Pythagoras, to whom that philosopher's Golden Verses have been ascribed. He made the heavens his principal object of contemplation; and has been idly (A) supposed to have been the author of that true system of the world which Copernicus afterwards revived. This made Bullialdus place the name of Philolaus at the head of two works, written to illustrate and confirm that system.

"He was (says Dr Enfield) a disciple of Archytas, and flourished in the time of Plato. It was from him Hist. of that Plato purchased the written records of the Pytha- Philosoph gorean system, contrary to an express oath taken by the society of Pythagoreans, pledging themselves to keep secret the mysteries of their sect. It is probable, that among these books were the writings of Timæus, upon which Plato formed the dialogue that bore his name. Plutarch relates, that Philolaus was one of the persons who escaped from the house which was burned by Cylon, during the life of Pythagoras; but this account cannot be correct. Philolaus was contemporary with Plato, and therefore certainly not with Pythagoras. In

terfering

Philolaus. terfering in affairs of state, he fell a sacrifice to political jealousy.

Philolaus treated the doctrine of nature with great subtlety, but at the same time with great obscurity; referring every thing that exists to mathematical principles. He taught, that reason, improved by mathematical learning, is alone capable of judging concerning the nature of things; that the whole world consists of infinite and finite; that number subsists by itself, and is the chain which by its power sustains the eternal frame of things; that the Monad is not the sole principle of all things, but that the Binary is necessary to furnish materials from which all subsequent numbers may be produced; that the world is one whole, which has a fiery

centre, about which the ten celestial spheres revolve, plaiolaus, heaven, the sun, the planets, the earth, and the moon; that the sun has a vitreous surface, whence the fire diffused through the world is reflected, rendering the mirror from which it is reflected visible; that all things are preserved in harmony by the law of necessity; and that the world is liable to destruction both by fire and by water. From this summary of the doctrine of Philolaus it appears probable, that, following Timæus, whose writings he possessed, he so far departed from the Pythagorean system as to conceive two independent prin ciples in nature, God and Matter, and that it was from the same source that Plato derived his doctrine upon this subject."

Definition. PHILOLOGY is compounded of the two Greek words λ and λeyes, and imports "the desire of investigating the properties and affections of words." The sages of Greece were, in the most ancient times, denominated Zoo, that is, wise men. Pythagoras renounced this pompous appellation, and assumed the more humble title of pixoropos, that is, a lover of wise men. The learned Greeks were afterwards called philosophers; and in process of time, in imitation of this epithet, the word philologer was adopted, to import "a man deeply versed in languages, etymology, antiquities, &c." Hence the term philology, which denotes the science that we propose briefly to discuss in the following article.

Though philology, in its original import, denoted only the study of words and language, it gradually acquired a much more extensive, and at the same time a much more useful, as well as more exalted, signification. It Objects comprehended the study of grammar, criticism, etymoand uses of logy, the interpretation of ancient authors, antiquities; philology. and, in a word, every thing relating to ancient manners, laws, religion, government, language, &c. In this enlarged sense of the word, philology becomes a science of the greatest utility; opens a wide field of intellectual investigation; and indeed calls for a more intense exertion of industry, and multifarious erudition, than most of those departments of literature which custom hath dignified with more high-sounding names. It is indeed apparent, that, without the aid of philological studies, it is impossible upon many occasions, to develope the origin of nations; to trace their primary frame and constitution; to discover their manners, customs, laws, religion, government, language, progress in arts and arms; or to learn by what men and what measures the most celebrated states of antiquity rose into grandeur and consideration. The study of history, so eminently useful to the legislator, the divine, the military man, the lawyer, the philosopher, and the private gentleman who wishes to employ his learned leisure in a manner honourable and improving to himself, and useful to his country, will contribute very little towards enlightening the mind without the aid of philological researches. For these reasons we shall endeavour to explain the various branches of that useful science as fully and as intelli

gibly as the nature of the present undertaking will per

mit.

Most of the branches of philology have been already Object of canvassed under the various heads of CRITICISM, ETY-this article. MOLOGY, GRAMmar, LanguagE, &c. There still remains one part, which has either been slightly touched upon, or totally omitted, under the foregoing topics: we mean, the nature and complexion of most of the oriental tongues; as also some of the radical dialects of the languages of the west. As we would willingly gratify our readers of every description to the utmost of our power, we shall endeavour in this place to communicate to them as much information upon that subject as the extent of our reading, and the limits prescribed one single article, will permit.

Before we enter upon this subject, we must observe, that it is not our intention to fill our pages with a tedious, uninteresting, catalogue of barbarous languages, spoken by savage and inconsiderable tribes, of which little, or perhaps nothing, more is known than barely their names. Such an enumeration would swell the article without communicating one single new idea to the reader's antecedent stock, We shall therefore confine our inquiries to such languages as have been used by considerable states and societies, and which of consequence have acquired a high degree of celebrity in the regions of the east.

What was the antediluvian language, or whether it Variety of was divided into a variety of dialects as at this day, can dialects beonly be determined by the rules of analogy; and these fore the deluge. will lead us to believe, that whatever might have been the primitive language of mankind, if human nature was then constituted as it is at present, a great variety of dialects must of necessity have sprung up in the space of near 2000 years. If we adopt the Mosaie account of the antediluvian events, we must admit that the descendants of Cain for some ages lived separated from those of Seth. Their manner of life, their religious ceremonies, their laws, their form of government, were probably different, and these circumstances would of course produce a variety in their language. The posterity of Cain were an inventive race. They found out the art of metallurgy, music, and some think of wearing; and in all probability many other articles conduNae

oive

Cain.

3

History of cive to the ease and accommodation of life were the produce of their ingenuity. A people of this character must have paid no small regard to their words and modes of especially expression. Wherever music is cultivated, language among the will naturally be improved and refined. When new inchildren of ventions are introduced, a new race of words and phrases of necessity spring up, corresponding to the recent stock of ideas to be intimated. Besides, among an inventive race of people, new vocables would be continually fabricated, in order to supply the deficiencies of the primitive language, which was probably scanty in words, and its phraseology unpolished. The Cainites, then, among their other improvements, cannot well be supposed to have neglected the cultivation of language.

Origin of writing.

Many conjectures have been hazarded both by ancient and modern authors with respect to the origin of writing; an art nearly connected with that of speaking. *Nat Hist. According to Pliny, "the Assyrian letters had allib vii. ways existed; some imagined that letters had been incap. 56. vented by the Egyptian Mercury; others ascribed the honour of the invention to the Syrians." The truth seems to be, that letters were an antediluvian invention, preserved among the Chaldeans or Assyrians, who were the immediate descendants of Noah, and inhabited those very regions in the neighbourhood of which the ark rested, and where that patriarch afterwards fixed his residence. This circumstance, we think, affords a strong presumption that the use of letters was known before the deluge, and transmitted to the Assyrians and Chaldeans by Noah their progenitor, or at least by their immediate ancestors of his family. If, then, the art of writing was an antediluvian invention, we think that in all probability it originated among the posterity of Cain.

The descendants of Seth, according to the oriental tradition, were chiefly addicted to agriculture and tending of cattle. They devoted a great part of their time to the exercises of piety and devotion. From this circumstance they came to be distinguished by the title of the (A) Sons of God. According to this description, the Sethites were a simple (B), unimproved race of people till they mingled with the race of Cain; after which period they at once adopted the improvements and the vices of that wicked family.

It is not, however, probable, that all the descendants ef Seth, without exception, mingled with the Cainites. That family of which Noah was descended had not incorporated with the race of Cain: it was, according to the sacred historian, lineally descended from Seth, and had preserved the worship of the true God, when, it is probable, the greatest part of mankind bad apostatised

and become idolaters (c). Along with the true reli- Language. gion, the progenitors of Noah had preserved that simplicity of manners and equability of character which had distinguished their remote ancestors. Agriculture and rearing cattle had been their favourite occupations. Accordingly we find, that the patriarch Noah, immediately" after the deluge," became a husbandman, and planted a vineyard." The chosen patriarchs, who doubtless imitated their pious ancestors, were shepherds, and employed in rearing and tending cattle. Indeed there are strong presumptions that the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Syrians, Canaanites, and Arabians, in the earliest ages followed the same profession.

From this deduction, we imagine it is at least probable, that the ancestors of Noah persisted in the observance of the same simplicity of manners which had been handed down from Adam to Seth, and from him to Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and from this last to Noah. According both to scripture and tradition, innovations were the province of the Cainites, while the descendants of Seth adhered to the primitive and truly patriarchal institutions.

7

If these premises are allowed the merit of probability, The origiwe may justly infer that the language of Noah, what-nal lanever it was, differed very little from that of Adanı (D); guage preand that if it is possible to ascertain the language of the served in the family former, that of the latter will of course be discovered. from which We shall then proceed to throw together a few observa- Noah tions relating to the language of Noah, and leave our sprung. readers to judge for themselves. We believe it will be superfluous to suggest, that our intention in the course of this deduction is, if possible, to trace the origin and antiquity of the Hebrew tongue; and to try to discover whether that language, or any of its sister dialects, may claim the honour of being the original language of mankind.

Whatever may have been the dialect of Noah and his family, that same dialect, according to the Mosaic account, must have obtained, without any alteration, till the era of the building of the tower of Babel.-Upon this occasion a dreadful convulsion took place: the language of mankind was confounded, and men were scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth.

How far this catastrophe (E) extended, is not the bu- Confusion siness of the present inquiry to determine. One thing at the is certain beyond all controversy, namely, that the lan- tower of guages of all the nations which settled near the centre of Babel population were but slightly affected by its influence. A very judicious writer has observed, that 3000 years + Strabe. after, the inhabitants of those countries exhibited a very strong resemblance of cognation, "in their language,

manner