Part 5 (1/2)

Those things, which are related of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, appear so surprizing and contrary to nature, that some interpreters have imagined that he was really transformed into a beast. For ”being driven from the company of men for seven years, his dwelling was with the beasts of the field, he fed on gra.s.s as oxen; his body was wetted with the dew of heaven; his hair and nails were grown like those of birds. At length at the end of that s.p.a.ce of time, his understanding was restored to him, and he was established in his kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto him. Now his crime was pride and the contempt of G.o.d[83].”

[83] _See Daniel, Chap. iv. and v._

All these circ.u.mstances agree so perfectly well with hypochondriacal madness, that to me it appears evident, that Nebuchadnezzar was seized with this distemper, and under its influence ran wild into the fields: and that, fancying himself transformed into an ox, he fed on gra.s.s in the manner of cattle. For every sort of madness is, as I shall specify more particularly hereafter[84], a disease of a disturbed imagination; which this unhappy man laboured under full seven years. And thro'

neglect of taking proper care of himself, his hair and nails grew to an excessive length; whereby the latter growing thicker and crooked, resembled the claws of birds. Now, the ancients called persons affected with this species of madness ???a????p?? or ???a????p??; because they went abroad in the night, imitating wolves or dogs; particularly intent upon opening the sepulchres of the dead, and had their legs much ulcerated either by frequent falls, or the bites of[85] dogs. In like manner are the daughters of Proetus related to have been mad, who, as Virgil says,

--_Implerunt falsis mugitibus agros._[86]

--With mimick'd mooings fill'd the fields.

[84] _See Chap. ix. of Demoniacs._

[85] _See Aetius, Lib. medecin. Lib. vi. and Paul. aegineta, Lib. iii. Cap. xvi._

[86] _Eclog. vi. 48._

For, as Servius observes, Juno possessed their minds with such a species of madness, that fancying themselves cows, they ran into the fields, bellowed often, and dreaded the plough. But these, according to Ovid, the physician Melampus,

--_per carmen & herbas Eripuit furiis._[87]

s.n.a.t.c.h'd from the furies by his charms and herbs.

[87] _Metamorph. xv. 325._

Nor was this disorder unknown to the moderns; for Schenckius records a remarkable instance of it in a husbandman of Padua, _who imagining that he was a wolf, attack'd, and even killed several persons in the fields; and when at length he was taken, he persevered in declaring himself a real wolf, and that the only difference consisted in the inversion of his skin and hair_[88].

[88] _Observat. med. rar. de Lycanthrop. Obs. 1._

But it may be objected to our opinion, that this misfortune was foretold to the king, so that he might have prevented it by correcting his morals; and therefore it is not probable that it befel him in the course of nature. But we know, that those things, which G.o.d executes either thro' clemency or vengeance, are frequently performed by the a.s.sistance of natural causes. Thus having threatened Hezekiah with death, and being afterwards moved by his prayers, he restored him to life, and made use of figs laid on the tumor, as a medicine for his[89] disease. He ordered king Herod, upon account of his pride, to be devoured by worms[90]. And no body doubts but that the plague, which is generally attributed to the divine wrath, most commonly owes its origin to corrupted air.

[89] _See above Chap. v. p. 36._

[90] _See below, Chap. xv._

CHAPTER VIII.

_The Palsy._

There are three paralytics recorded in the holy gospels to have been cured by Jesus Christ[91]. The case of one of these, which is the third, having some singularities in it, I shall relate the particulars of it in the words of St. John, ”There is (says the Evangelist) at Jerusalem, by the sheep market, a pool, near which lay a great mult.i.tude of impotent folk, blind, halt, and withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, who had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time _in that case_, he saith unto him, _Wilt thou be made whole_? The impotent man answered him, _Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool; but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me_. Jesus saith unto him: _Rise, take up thy bed, and walk_. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked.”

[91] _See Matthew, Chap. viii. and ix., and John, Chap. v._

This pool, or at least some other in its stead, is shewn to travellers even at this day by the friars who reside there.[92] But, what is much more to the purpose, Eusebius a.s.serts that it actually existed in his time, and had two basons; both of which were filled every year by the rains, at a stated time; and the water of one of them was of a surprizing red colour:[93] which last phnomenon he attributes, according to the vulgar opinion, to the sacrifices, which were formerly cleansed there. But I am clearly of opinion, that it was owing to a red earth or ocre, which is frequently found in baths, raised up from the bottom at certain times by the rains, and mixing with the water.

[92] _See Cotovici Itinerarium Hierosolymitarum, Lib. ii.

Cap. ii. and Maundrell's Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, 8vo. p. 107. Oxford 1714._