In order of battle,
Hannibal the son of Bar-Melec."
As this is a curious piece, and one of the largest remains of the Punic language now in existence, and as it helps to ascertain the ancient inhabitants of this island, I thought it not improper to insert it here. For the illustration of this and several other points of Punic antiquity, I must refer the curious reader to the essay itself.
Verse 2
The barbarous people - We have already seen that this island was peopled by the Phoenicians, or Carthaginians, as Bochart has proved, Phaleg. chap. xxvi.; and their ancient language was no doubt in use among them at that time, though mingled with some Greek and Latin terms; and this language must have been unintelligible to the Romans and the Greeks. With these, as well as with other nations, it was customary to call those βαρβαροι, barbarians, whose language they did not understand. St. Paul himself speaks after this manner in [1Cor 14:11] : If I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a Barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a Barbarian unto me. Thus Herodotus also, lib. ii. 158, says, βαρβαρους παντας Αιγυπτιοι καλεουσι τους μη σφι ὁμογλωσσους· The Egyptians call all those Barbarians who have not the same language with themselves. And Ovid, when among the Getes, says, in Trist. ver. 10: -
Barbarus hic ego sum, quia non Intelligor ulli. "Here I am a barbarian, for no person understands me."
Various etymologies have been given of this word. I think that of Bp. Pearce the best. The Greeks who traded with the Phoenicians, formed this word from their observing that the Phoenicians were generally called by the name of their parent, with the word בר bar, prefixed to that name; as we find in the New Testament men called Bar-Jesus, Bar-Tholomeus, Bar-Jonas, Bar-Timeus, etc. Hence the Greeks called them βαρ-βαροι, meaning the men who are called Bar Bar, or have no other names than what begin with Bar. And because the Greeks did not understand the language of the Phoenicians, their first, and the Romans in imitation of them, gave the name of Barbarians to all such as talked in a language to which they were strangers." No other etymology need be attempted; this is its own proof; and the Bar-melec in the preceding epitaph is, at least, collateral evidence. The word barbarian is therefore no term of reproach in itself; and was not so used by ancient authors, however fashionable it may be to use it so now.
Because of the present rain and - of the cold - This must have been sometime in October; and, when we consider the time of the year, the tempestuousness of the weather, and their escaping to shore on planks, spars, etc., wet of course to the skin, they must have been very cold, and have needed all the kindness that these well disposed people showed them. In some parts of Christianized Europe, the inhabitants would have attended on the beach, and knocked the survivors on the head, that they might convert the wreck to their own use! This barbarous people did not act in this way: they joined hands with God to make these sufferers live.
Verse 3
There came a viper out of the heat - We may naturally suppose that there had been fuel laid before on the fire, and that the viper was in this fuel, and that it had been revived by the heat; and, when St. Paul laid his bundle on the fire, the viper was then in a state to lay hold on his hand.
Verse 4
The venomous beast - Το θηριον, The venomous animal; for θηρια is a general name among the Greek writers for serpents, vipers, scorpions, wasps, and such like creatures. Though the viper fastened on Paul's hand, it does not appear that it really bit him; but the Maltese supposed that it had, because they saw it fasten on his hand.
Vengeance suffereth not to live - These heathens had a general knowledge of retributive justice; and they thought that the stinging of the serpent was a proof that Paul was a murderer. There is a passage in Bamidbar Rabba, fol. 239, that casts some light on this place. "Although the Sanhedrin is ceased, yet are not the four deaths ceased. For he that deserves stoning either falls from his house, or a wild beast tears and devours him. He that deserves burning either falls into the fire, or a serpent bites him. He that deserves cutting of with the sword is either betrayed into the power of a heathen kingdom, or the robbers break in upon him. He that deserves strangling is either suffocated in the water, or dies of a quinsy." See Lightfoot.
As these people were heathens, it is not likely that they had any correct notion of the justice of the true God; and therefore it is most probable that they used the word δικη, not to express the quality or attribute of any being, but the goddess Dik, or vindictive Justice, herself, who is represented as punishing the iniquities of men.
Hesiod makes a goddess of what the Maltese called Δικη, or Justice: - Η δε τε παρθενος εϚι ΔΙΚΗ, Διος εκγεγαυια, Κυδνη τ' αιδοιη τε θεοις, οἱ Ολυμπον εχουσιν· Και ρ' ὁποτ' αν τις μιν βλαπτῃ σκολιως ονοταζων. Αυτικα παρ Διΐ πατρι καθεζομενη Κρονιωνι Γηρυετ' ανθρωπων αδικον νοον·
Hesiod. Opera, ver. 254.
Justice, unspotted maid, derived from Jove,
Renown'd and reverenced by the gods above:
When mortals violate her sacred laws,
When judges hear the bribe and not the cause,
Close by her parent god, behold her stand,
And urge the punishment their sins demand.
Coke.
Verse 5
Shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm - This is a presumptive evidence that the viper did not bite St. Paul: it fastened on his hand, but had no power to injure him.
Verse 6
When he should have swollen - Πιμπρασθαι, When he should have been inflamed: by means of an acrid poison introduced into the blood, it is soon coagulated; and, in consequence, the extremities of the vessels become obstructed, strong inflammation takes place, and all the parts become most painfully swollen. Lucan, ix. v. 791, gives a terrible account of this effect of the bite of a serpent: - - illi rubor igneus ora
Succendit, tenditque cutem, pereunte figura
Miscens cuncta tumor jam toto corpore major:
Humanumque egressa modum super omnia membra
Efflatur sanies late tollente veneno.
Ipse latet penitus, congesto corpore mersus;
Nec lorica tenet distenti corporis auctum.
And straight a sudden flame began to spread,
And paint his visage with a glowing red.
With swift expansion swells the bloated skin,
Nought but an undistinguished mass is seen;
While the fair human form lies lost within,
The puffy poison spreads and heaves around,
Till all the man is in the monster drown'd.
Rowe.
See other ensamples, in the notes on [Num 21:6] (note).
Said that he was a god - As Hercules was one of the gods of the Phoenicians, and was worshipped in Malta under the epithet of Αλεξικακος, the dispeller of evil, they probably thought that Paul was Hercules; and the more so, because Hercules was famous for having destroyed, in his youth, two serpents that attacked him in his cradle.
Verse 7
The chief man of the island - The term πρωτος, Chief, used hereby St. Luke, was the ancient title of the governor of this island, as is evident from an inscription found in Malta, which runs thus: - Λ. Κ. υἱος, κυρ. ἱππευς. ῥωμ. πρωτος Μελιταιων·