It is evident that Homer has availed himself of those magnificent images and descriptions so frequently to be met with in the books of the Old Testament; and why may not Theocritus, Moschus, and Bion have found their archetypes in other eastern writers, whose names have perished with their works? yet, though it may not be illiberal to admit such a supposition, it would certainly be invidious to conclude, what the malignity of cavillers alone could suggest with regard to Homer, that they destroyed the sources from which they borrowed, and, as it is fabled of the young of the pelican, drained their supporters to death. As the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament was performed at the request, and under the patronage, of Ptolemy Philadelphus, it were not to be wondered if Theocritus, who was entertained at that prince's court, had borrowed some part of his pastoral imagery from the poetical passages of those books. I think it can hardly be doubted that the Sicilian poet had in his eye certain expressions of the prophet Isaiah, when he wrote the following lines: Νυν ια μεν φορεοιτε βατοι, φορεοιτε δ’ ακανθαι. Ἁ δε καλα Ναρκισσος επ’ αρκευθοισι κομασαι; Παντα δ’ εναλλα γενοιτο, και ἁ πιτυς οχνας ενεικαι –––και τως κυνας ὡλαφος ἑλκοι. ~Nyn ia men phoreoite batoi, phoreoite d' akanthai. Ha de kala Narkissos ep' arkeuthoisi komasai; Panta d' enalla genoito, kai ha pitus ochnas eneikai ----kai tôs kynas hôlaphos helkoi.~ Let vexing brambles the blue violet bear, On the rude thorn Narcissus dress his hair, All, all reversed--The pine with pears be crown'd, And the bold deer shall drag the trembling hound. The cause, indeed, of these phenomena is very different in the Greek from what it is in the Hebrew poet; the former employing them on the death, the latter on the birth, of an important person: but the marks of imitation are nevertheless obvious. It might, however, be expected, that if Theocritus had borrowed at all from the sacred writers, the celebrated pastoral epithalamium of Solomon, so much within his own walk of poetry, would not certainly have escaped his notice. His epithalamium on the marriage of Helena, moreover, gave him an open field for imitation; therefore, if he has any obligations to the royal bard, we may expect to find them there. The very opening of the poem is in the spirit of the Hebrew song: Ουτω δη πρωιζα κατεδραθες, ω φιλε γαμβρε; ~Houtô dê prôiza katedrathes, ô phile gambre;~ The colour of imitation is still stronger in the following passage: Αως αντελλοισα καλον διεφαινε προσωπον, Ποτνια νυξ ἁτε, λευκον εαρ χειμωνος ανεντος; Hωδε και ἁ χρυσεα Ἑλενα διεφαινετ’ εν αμιν, Πιειρα μεγαλα ἁτ’ ανεδραμε κοσμος αρουρα. Hη καπω κυπαρισσος, η ἁρματι Θεσσαλος ἱππος.