From Book: A New Literal Translation From the Original Greek of All the Apostolical Epistles, Essay VIII,
"Concerning The Right Interpretation of the Writings in which the Revelations of God are Contained", p. 702, 1841.

This I suppose was the reason that, on coins and in sculpture, nations and cities were symbolically represented by a young woman sitting on a throne, magnificently attired, and surrounded with emblems expressive of the qualities by which that nation was distinguished. Hence the Jewish prophets, in the discourses which they addressed to nations and cities, termed them daughters, and virgin daughters, in allusion to the above described symbol.  Isa. xxii. 4, ' I will weep bitterly, — because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.'  Zech. ii. 7, ' Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.' Jer. xiv. 17, ' Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, — for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach.'  Jer. xlvi. 11, ' Go up into Gilead and take balm, О virgin, the daughter of Egypt In vain shall thou use many medicines, for thou shall not be cured."

7. In the ancient picture-writing, it would seem that persons and things were represented by the figures of the things to which they were metaphorically likened. Hence, in speaking of them, they were called by the names of these things. For example, because anciently men were metaphorically likened to trees, (Cant, it 3. v. 15.), princes and great men, in the animated language of the eastern nations, were called by the name of such trees as were remarkable for their magnitude and beauty ; and had the properties of these trees ascribed to them. Thus the great men of Judah were called by Sennacherib the tall cedars of Babylon, and the common people the choice fir trees thereof.  Isa. xxxvii. 24, ' By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the sides of Lebanon, and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof.'  Zech. xi. 1, 'Open thy doors, О Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. Howl, fir trees, for the cedar is fallen ; because the mighty are spoiled ! Howl, O ye oaks of Bashan.'  See also Isa. ii. 13-16. In like manner, Jeremiah calls the whole people of a country a forest, chap. xxi. 14, 'I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.' The same prophet, speaking to Judah, saith, chap. xi. 16, 'The Lord called thy name a green olive tree, fair and of goodly fruit.'  Hence Messiah is foretold under the idea of a branch of a tree. Jer. xxiii. 6, ' Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch.'  Zech. vi. 12, ' Behold the man whose name is the branch,' and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord.' Suitably to the same idea, the place out of which this branch was to grow is thus described,  Isa. xi. 1,  ' There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his root, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.'

8. Anciently princes were metaphorically called shepherds, and their subjects sheep, because the care which they took of their people resembled the care which shepherds take of their flocks.  2 Sam. xxiv. 17, 'I have sinned, I have done wickedly ; but these sheep, what have they done ?'  Homer likewise often calls his princes shepherds of the people. — Among the Jews the priests also were called shepherds, because it was a part of their office to teach the people the law. Ezek. xxxiv. 2, ' Wo to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves; should not the shepherds feed the flock ?' — This phraseology passed from the Jewish into the Christian church. For Christ a called the chief shepherd, and the ministers of the gospel are considered as subordinate shepherds employed by him to take care of the people. 1 Pet v. 2, ' Feed the flock of God,'  ver. 4, ' And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive the crown of glory which fadeth not away."

9. Because it is usual, in all languages, metaphorically to ascribe to men the qualities of beasts, and to call them by the name of such beasts as they resemble in their dispositions, the Psalmist, in predicting Christ's suffering, termed his enemies strong bulls of Bashan, the country most famous for its breed of kine. Psal. xxii 12, ' Many bulls have compassed me : strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round about. They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and roaring lion.' In like manner the prophet Amos, to mark the stupidity and brutality of the great men of Samaria who oppressed the people, reproved them under the name of Kine of Bashan, chap. iv. 1, 'Hear this word, ye Kine of Bashan, thst are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor,' &c. Upon the same foundation the Israelitish nation is spoken of as a beast of prey in Balaam's prophecy ; and hath the actions of a beast of prey ascribed to it. Numb. xxiv. 8, ' God brought him forth out of Egypt ; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. He shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. 9. He couched, he lay down as a lion ; and who shall stir him up ?'


WHEN the custom, described in the preceding section, of substituting the symbol, the device, and the metaphor, for the thing signified thereby, took place, and the thing signified obtained the name of the thing by which it was signified, it was natural to describe the condition, the qualities, and the actions of the thing signified, by the condition, the qualities, and the actions of its symbol. Hence arose that species of composition which is called allegory, because therein one thing was expressed, and another entirely different from it was meant ; and which, for reasons to be mentioned immediately, was of great fame and use anciently among the eastern nations, ln mentioning metaphors as the foundation of allegories, I am authorized by Quinctilian, who thus writes, lib. viii.c. 6, " Ut modicus atque opportunus translationis usus illustrat oralionem, ita frequens et obscurat et tsedio complet : Continuus vero in allegoriam et aenigmata transit."

The Egyptians, who are supposed to have invented picture-writing, are thought also to have invented the allegorical method of communicating their sentiments. But by whomsoever invented, it came early into general use, and was greatly delighted in by the orientals, for the following reasons: — 1. A well-formed allegory, by its striking images and vivid colouring, never failed, when understood, to make a strong impression on those to whom it was addressed. 2. Being a narration of things which are objects of sense, and between which there is a natural or supposed connexion, it was easily remembered, and could be translated from one language into another with the greatest precision. 3. Professing to contain an important hidden meaning, those to whom it was proposed were led by curiosity to search out that meaning. 4. The discovery of the meaning of an allegory, as an exercise of one's mental powers, afforded great pleasure to the discoverer, especially if it contained a moral lesson useful for regulating life and manners : For a person, by the discovery, being led to instruct himself, he was spared the pain of having instruction forced upon him. 5. Allegory being a kind of speech which none but the learned understood, it was an excellent vehicle for conveying to them the knowledge of such matters as were thought improper for the common people to know. — These reasons led the priests, with whom the whole learning of Egypt was lodged, to teach their religion, their laws, and their politics, under the veil of allegory, both to their own countrymen and to those strangers who came to he instructed in the wisdom of Egypt. And such well-informed strangers, on their return to their own country, in imitation of their teachers, communicated the knowledge which they had acquired in Egypt to their disciples in allegories: by which means allegory came in a little time to be the most approved method of instruction all over the east.

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