There is such another portentum in Virgil, Æn. 1. 8. v. 42, where thirty young pigs denote as many years. And in Silius Italicus, there is an augurium set down of a hawk pursuing and killing fifteen doves, and whilst he was stooping upon another, an eagle comes and forces the hawk away. Which is there explained of Hannibal's wasting Italy during sixteen years, and his being driven away by Scipio.

In several places of Scripture, a day signifies an appointed time or season, as in Isa. xxxiv. 8; lxiii. 4. And so may imply a long time of many years, as in Heb. iii. 8, 9, ❝ the day of temptation in the wilderness," is the time of forty years.

In the Latin authors, a day is used to signify time in general, as in Tully, de Nat. Deor. 1. 2, " Opinionum enim commenta delet dies, naturæ judicia confirmat;" and in Terence, " diem adimere ægritudinem hominibus."

And dies also may signify more especially the whole year, as it does in these verses of Lucretius, 1. 1. v. 10.

"Nam simul ac species patefacta est verna Diei,

Et reserata viget genitalis aura Favoni."

In Tully, dies perexigua signifies a short time, yet so as to contain 110 days.

Again, annus is the season, thus annus hybernus in Horace is the winter; and in Virgil, formosissimus annus is the spring.

And zaigos, a season, is sometimes used for a year, as in Dan. xii. 7; and so xgovos is put for a year in many places, as in Sophocles, in the Oriental Oneirocritics, in Ælian, and Ammonius. And Ovid has used the word tempus to signify a year; Fast. 1. 3.

v. 163. Lastly, age, hour, signifies time indefinitely, both in sacred and profane authors. In Aristophanes, ngos vaga, in the spring time; in Thucydides aga ilus the summer time.

And so Hora is used in the Latin authors for time or season in general. (See Vossius Etym.)

TORCH, when considered in respect only of its burning, is a symbol of great anger and destruction. It is thus used by the prophet Zechariah, xii. 6,

"In that day will I make the leaders of Judah As an hearth of fire among wood,

And as a torch of fire in a sheaf,

And they shall devour on the right hand and on the left,
All the people round about."

So in Isa. vii. 4, Rezin king of Syria, and the king of Israel, two bitter enemies of Ahaz king of Judah, threatening war against Judah, are called "two tails of smoking firebrands."

Thus the dream of Hecuba when with child of Paris, how she brought forth a torch which burnt the city, was explained by Esacus the Oneirocritic, that the child would prove to be the ruin of his country. And therefore Euripides calls this Paris by the name οἱ Δαλέ πικρον μιμημα, the bitter representative of a torch. And so Horace speaking of Hannibal, compares him to torches set on fire, or a blasting wind, another symbol of war.

"Dirus per urbes Afer ut Italas,

Ceu flamma per taedas, vel Eurus
Per Siculas equitavit undas. '

A star burning like a torch may be a description of that sort of comets which, for the figure of them, are called lampadias. And what is by Aristotle called

Κομητης, is in the author of the description of the Olympiads called Aaμxas, and as it is supposed to be mentioned in the Marble Chronicle at Oxford, it is there said to burn, xalɛxáv.

Now a comet was always thought to be a prodigy of bad omen; that in the times of Augustus only excepted by Pliny.

And streams of fire like torches, of which Livy gives some instances, were looked upon as ill omens. And Silius Italicus, describing the prodigies which foreboded the event of the battle at Canno, mentions such torches.

The ancient Grecian signals for beginning a battle were lighted torches, thrown from both armies, by men called πυρφοροι or πυροφοροι who were priests of Mars, and therefore held inviolable, and who having cast their torches, had safe regress.

TOWER. Towers and fortresses are put, in the figurative language of prophecy, for defenders and protectors, whether by counsel or strength, in peace or in war. 2 Sam. xxii. 51, "God is the tower of salvation for his king."

Ps. lxi. 3,

"Thou hast been a shelter for me,

And a strong tower from the enemy."

Prov. xviii. 10,

"The name of Jehovah is a strong tower,

The righteous runneth into it, and is safe."

Isa. xxxiii. 18, "Where is he that numbered the towers," that is, the commander of the enemy's forces, who surveyed the fortifications of the city, and took an account of the height, strength, and situation of the walls and towers, that he might know where to

make the assault with the greatest advantage. Lowth's note.

See

Towers are sometimes used to denote proud men, tyrants, and men in high station. Thus in Isa. ii. 15; xxx. 25.

They were used, naturally enough, as asyla or places of safety. It is to this use of them the sacred writer alludes in Prov. xviii. 10, above quoted. Euripides in Medea, v. 389, has an expression to this purpose," Remaining therefore a short time, if any tower of safety should appear to us."

They were also used for the purpose of watching; See 2 Kings ix. 17, and xvii. 19; See also Isa. xxiii. 13.

TRAVAILING. Travailing (with child) is a symbol of great endeavours to bring something to pass, not without much difficulty, pain, and danger. And the compassing the end, which the persons represented by the symbol aimed at, is a deliverance from the pain and danger they laboured under.

Hence the symbol of travailing with child is often used in the Prophets to denote a state of anguish and misery, as in Isa. xxvi. 17, 18; lxvi. 7; Jer. iv. 31; xiii. 21; xxx. 6, 7.

And also in the New Testament, the pains of childbearing are used to signify the sorrow of tribulation or persecution, as in Matt. xxiv. 8; Mark xiii. 8; John xvi. 21, 22; 1 Thess. v. 3.

And Paul applies the expression to the propagation of the Gospel through persecutions, Gal. iv. 19, "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you;" i. e. for whom I am concerned and in fear, till the Christian doctrine has

overcome in you the habits of sin. And in Rom. viii. 22, he compares the earnest desire of the creation for the kingdom of Christ, to the pains of a woman in travail.

The same metaphor is not unusual in Pagan authors, and Cicero has it more than once. It is likewise understood by the.Persian and Egyptian interpreters of afflictions and cares, in ch. 127.

On the other hand, the symbol of the birth betokens joy and deliverance; and especially if the child be a male, as in John xvi. 21. And in Isa. lxvi. 7, where the man-child is interpreted by the Targum of a king, a deliverer.

TREAD. To tread under, or trample on, signifies to overcome and bring under subjection. Thus in Ps. lx. 12,

"Through God we shall do valiantly,

For it is he that shall tread down our enemies."

See also Isa. x. 6; xiv. 25; Dan. vii. 23; Ps. cxi. 13, comp. with Luke x. 19.

To tread upon oaths, in Homer, signifies to break or violate them. See Il. 4, v. 157, where the word παλέω is used.

In Rev. xi. 2, the outer court is said to be given to the Gentiles, that is, should become profane and common, and the "holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months," which Henry More thus explains: "A kind of Pagano-Christianity, instead of pure Christianity, shall visibly domineer for forty and two months of years, that is, for 1260 years.

The operation of treading the winepress is well known, and from thence many emblematic expressions