ABIYONAII (71JS'SN.; Sept. xcir7rapts). This word occurs only once in the Bible, Eccles. xii. 5 : When the almond-tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail ; because man goeth to his long home.' The word translated desire is ABIYONAH, which by others has been considered to signify the CAPER. PLANT. The reasons assigned for the latter opinion are : that the Rabbins apply the term abionoth to.the small fruit of trees and berries, as well as to that of the caper-bush ; that the caper bush is common in Syria and Arabia ; that its fruit was in early times eaten as a condiment, being stimulating in- its nature, and therefore calculated to excite desire • that as the caper-bush grows on tombs, it will be liable to be destroyed when these are opened ; and, finally, that as Solomon speaks here in symbols and allegories, we must suppose him to deviate from the course he had apparently prescribed to himself, if he were to express in plain words that desire shall fail,' instead of intimating the same thing, by the failure of that which is supposed to have been used to excite desire.
Celsius. (ilierobotanicon, i. 210) argues, on the contrary,that Solomon in other places, when treat ing of the pleasures of youth, never speaks of capers, but of wine and perfumes ; that, had he wished to adduce anything of the kind, he would have se lected something more remarkable ; that capers, moreover, instead of being pleasantly stimulant, are rather acrid and hurtful, and though occasion ally employed by the ancients as condiments, were little esteemed by them ; and, finally, that the word abionoth of the Rabbins is distinct from the abiyonah of this passage, as is admitted even by Ursmus: `Nam quod vocabulum Abionoth, quod Rabbinis usitatum, alia qumedam puncta habeat, non Auto tanti esse momenti' (Arboret.
1). To this Celsius replies : Immo, nisi vocales et puncta genuina in Ebraicis observentur, Babelica fiet confusio, et coelo terra miscebitur. Incertum pariter pro certo assumunt, qui cappares volunt proprie abionoth dici Rabbinis' (1. e. p. 213).
But as the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and some other translations, have understood the caper-hush to be meant, it is desirable to give some account of it, especially as, from its ornamental nature, it could not but attract attention. There are, more over, some points in its natural history which have been overlooked, but which may serve to shew that in the passage under review it might without impro priety have been employed in carrying out the figu rative language with which the verse commences.
The caper-plant belongs to a tribe of plants, the Capparidem, of which the species are found in con siderable numbers in tropical countries, such as India, whence they extend northwards into Arabia, the north of Africa, Syria, and the south of Europe.
The common caper-bush—Capparis si5inosa, Linn. (the C. saliva of Persoon) —is common in the countries immediately surrounding the Mediter ranean. Dioscorides describes it as spreading in a circular manner on the ground, in poor soils and rugged situations ; and Pliny, 'as being set and sown in stony places especially.' Theophrastus states that it refuses to grow in cultivated ground. Dioscorides describes it as having thorns like a bramble, leaves like the quince, and fruit like the olive ; Characters. almost sufficient to identify it. The caper is well known to the Arabs, being their and designated also by the name athztf or azuf: The bark of the root, which is still used in the East, as it formerly was in Europe, no doubt possesses some irritant property, as it was one of the five aperient roots. The un expanded flower-buds, preserved in vinegar, are well known at our tables as a condiment by the name of capers. Parts of the plant seem to have been similarly used by the ancients.
The caper-plant is showy and ornamental, grow ing in barren places in the midst of the rubbish of ruins, or on the walls of buildings. It was observed by Ray on the Temple of Peace at Rome, and in other similar situations. It forms a much-branched, diffuse shrub, which annually loses its leaves. The branches are long and trailing; smooth, but armed with double curved stipulary spines. The leaves are alternate, roundish or oblong-oval, a little fleshy, smooth, of a green colour, but some times a little reddish. The flowers are large and showy, produced singly in the axils of the leaves, on stalks which are larger than the leaves. The calyx is four-leaved, coriaceous; the petals are also four in number, white, and of an oval roundish form. The stamens are very numerous and long; and their filaments being tinged with purple, and terminated by the yellow anthers, give the flowers a very agreeable appearance. The ovary is borne upon a straight stalk, which is a little longer than tne stamens, and which, as it ripens, droops and iorms an oval or pear-shaped berry, enclosing within its pulp numerous small seeds.
Many of the caper tribe, being remarkable for the long stalks by which their fruit is supported, conspicuously display, what also takes place in other plants, namely, the drooping and hanging down of the fruit as it ripens. As, then, the flowering of the almond-tree, in the first part of the verse, has been supposed to refer to the whitening of the hair, so the drooping of the ripe fruit of a plant like the caper, which is conspicuous on the walls of build ings, and on tombs, may be supposed to typify the hanging down of the head before 'man goeth to his long home.'—J.F.R.