TSAR'AH Exod. xxiii. 28 ; Deut. vii.
20 : Sept. .ras arOnxias ; Vulg. crabrones ; Josh. xxiv. 12, T.*, cibirclay, crabronem ; Wisd. Sol. xii. 8, ackixas, vespas, wasps'). The Greek words &Pekin; and aojE are given in the lexicons as signi fying both hornet' and wasp,' especially the former of them (Stephens, Scapula, s. v.) ; and the Latin vespa as denoting the wasp,' and crabro the hornet' (Facciolati, Lex. s. v.) But Harduin contends that that which is vespa with the Latins is properly with the Greeks civOphvii (Gailice, une gu0e ), and not aLly15E, as was thought by Gaza and Scaliger ; and urges that on this point so learned a Latin author as Pliny ought to be considered suf ficient evidence ; that he ascribes to the vespa those things which Aristotle (Hist. Anim. v. to, 617 ; ix. 65, 66) ascribes to the apt/pi-pat ; and, further, that he also ascribes to the crabrones those things which Aristotle ascribes to the crOC2Kes (comp. Arist. supra ; Pliny, Hist. Nat. xi. 24, ed. Harduin, p. 1741). The word trabrones Harduin accord ingly explains, Grmcis, orAKes ; Gallis, a'esfrelons, hornets.' If this criticism be just, it vindicates both Jerome's translation of the first three words, and the English also. Our confidence in the de finiteness of the Sept. rendering becomes increased when it is remembered that the Pentateuch, the most accurate pottion of the whole version, was *translated prbbably within fifty years after the death of Aristotle. Certainly the known charac teristics of the hornet agree with the descriptions given of the crybq by Aristotle, and of the crabro by Pliny. The CoOpfiyat. do not live by the nutri ment collected from flowers, as the bees. but prey upon many kinds of flesh ; whence also they fro. quent manure, for they pursue the great flies, and when they have caught them, having removed the head, they fly away, carrying the rest of the body' (Hist. Anim. ix.) Again :—aL dpOpijvat, iherecbpov .111,6$ ai ly rparyXv (rocoOat Kflpia): 'The apOpfpat build their nests in some elevated place, but the arkinces in a hole or cavity' (v. 19). The description of Pliny is nearly a tmns lation of the above Vespx in sublimi nidos faciunt, crabrones in cavernis, aut sub terra ;' on which Cuvier remarks, Smpe sub tectis, aliquando sub terra vespx ; in cavis arboribus crabrones, di ficant' (Plin. Libri de Animal. curante J. B. Fr. S. Ajasson De Grandsagne, cum notis a Cuvier, Paris 1838, p. 424, n. 2).
Still it must be noticed that, as Harduin remarks with wonder, Pliny, when speaking of the ichneu manes, a lesser species of hornet, calls them value, while Aristotle, in the corresponding description, calls them POKES (N. io). It would hence seem probable that the word vespa was sometimes used in an analogical and more comprehensive sense by Pliny ; which may account for a similar variation in Jerome's rendering, vespas' (Wisdom xii. 8). Even the Greek word had already undergone great abuse, for Hesychius, 15o years before Jerome, explains civepOn by door ualoons, a species of bee ;' and Suidas, in the Ith century, explains it as a species of wasp, and observes that the poets misapplied the word to the bee (see also Hom. //.
xiii. 167). It being upon the whole most probable, therefore, that ' the hornet' is the true rendering in these passages of Scripture, the only further ques tion which remains is, whether the word is to be taken as literally meaning this well-known and ter rific insect, or whether it is to be understood in a metaphorical and figurative sense for diseases, su pernatural terror, etc., by which Jehovah drove out the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites, from before Israel.' Among the moderns, Michaelis has defended the figurative sense. In addition to other reasons for it, he doubts whether the expulsion of the Canaanites could be effected by swarms of aOnKfai, and proposes to derive the He brew from a root signifying scourges,' plagues,' scutica, plata, etc. (Stipp/. ad Lexie. Hebr. vi. 2154) ; but his reasons are ably refuted by Rosen miiller, apud Bochart (Hieroz. Lips. 1796, iii. ch. 13, p. 4o2, etc.) In favour of the possibility of such an event it is observed, that /Elian relates that the Phasclit were actually driven from their lo cality by such means (01>aanX(ras oi aegxes, K. T. X. Hirt. Anita. ix. 28), and Bochart has shown that those Phaselitm were a Phcenician people (ut supra, P. 412). Even Rosenmiiller himself adopts the figurative sense in his Scholia on Exod. xxiii. 28 ; but on Josh. xxiv. 12 he retracts that opinion, and amply refutes it, His reasonings and refutations have been adopted by numerous • writers (among others, see Paxton's Illustrations of Scripture, i. 3o3, etc., Edin. 1819). Michaelis's doubt of the abstract possibility seems very unreasonable, when the irresistible power of bees and wasps, etc., at tested by numerous modem occurrences, and the thin and partial clothing of the Canaanites, are considered. It is observable that the event is re presented by the author of the book of Wisdom as a merciful dispensation, by which the Almighty, he says, spared as men, the old inhabitants of his holy land,' and gave them place for repentance.' If the hornet, considered as afty, was in any way connected with their idolatry, the visitation would convey a practical refutation of their error [see Raalzebub, under BAAL]. It may be remarked, that the hornet, no less than the whole species of wasps, renders an essential service in checking the multiplication of flies and other insects, which would otherwise become intolerable to man ; and that in regard to their architecture, and especially' their instincts and habits, they do not yield to their more popular congener, the bee, but even in several respects greatly excel it (Kirby and Spence, Intro duct. to Entomology, 8vo, Lond. 1828, i. 273, 274; Reaumur, Menzoire pour servir l'Ilistoire des In sectes, vol. vi. Mem. 6, pour des Guespes, 4to, Par. 1734-42).—J. F. D.