were ready to join in the fight. Attacked from within and without, the Equians lost heart, and begged for mercy. They were forced to give up Clolius and the other chiefs, who were bound in chains. On the top of two spears set upright in the ground was placed a third, and under this yoke were sent the rest of the Equians, stripped of their cloaks, and without arms. The camp and booty of the enemy were taken, but the spoil was divided only among the Dictator's army. Minucius was forced to lay down his power; his army called Cincinnatus their Deliverer and Patron, and gave him a crown of gold, and Rome was filled with joy. In his chariot the Dictator rode into the City triumphing. The Equian chiefs, bound in chains, were led in front, and the victorious soldiers, laden with spoil, followed. At the door of every house were set tables covered with meat and drink for the soldiers as they passed, and the people feasted together, so glad were they to see the army, which left the city one evening, returning triumphant the next. At the end of sixteen days Cincinnatus laid down his power, and returned to his farm.

5. For ten years the Commons were unable to carry their proposed reforms, but they gained an increase of their Tribunes to ten, two from each of the classes (B.c. 457). This measure was probably designed as a further protection from such outrages of the burghers as the breaking up of the assemblies of the plebeians, the carrying off of their wives and daughters, and the assassination of their most zealous friends. To prevent mischief to their own order from this increase in their number, the Tribunes bound themselves by oath to act together according to the decisions of the majority. L. Icilius, a Tribune, then proposed a law, which was passed, to allot to the Commons for ever the whole of the Aventine Hill, to be exclusively their quarter (B.c. 456). At length, after long and violent contests about the Terentitian Law, the burghers consented to send into Greece three senators, to collect such notices of the constitutions of the Greek States as would be useful to the Romans in a revision of their laws (B.C. 454; A.U.C. 300).

6. The commissioners were absent a whole year, during which the pestilence again broke out at Rome, with such violence as to carry off one of the Consuls and his successor, four of the ten Tribunes, an augur, one of the three great Flameus, a number of senators, half the freemen, and, it is said, all the slaves (B.C. 453). Next year (B.C. 452) the plague ceased, and on the return of the commissioners from Greece, the strife of parties was renewed. The

contentions were fierce, but the plebeians found it necessary to give up part of their demands. A revision of the laws and constitution was entrusted to a body of ten men. After struggling long and hard for the right to appoint half the Decemvirs from their own order, the commonalty agreed that the whole body should be chosen from the burghers. The Decemvirs superseded the Consuls and other magistrates, and each in turn, with almost absolute power, administered the government day by day as during an interregnum (B.c. 451).

7. The pestilence, which had made such havoc among the citizens of Rome, by sweeping with like fury through the neighbouring nations, had for the time protected the Commonwealth from its enemies. Yet, after all its fighting, and after all the good fortune which, according to its own annalists, waited on its arms, the Republic found itself, at the end of the third century of the City, still forced to maintain a generally defensive war with the Equians and Volscians, who "had advanced from the line of the Apennines, and established themselves on the Alban Hills, in the heart of Latium. . . . Of the thirty Latin States which had formed the league with Rome in the year [of the City] 261, thirteen were either destroyed, or were in the possession of the Opicans." Spite of occasional defeats, these restless warriors found marauding incursions from year to year into the territories of the Commonwealth too easy, profitable, and glorious to be given up. And while on the side of Latium the Republic was thus exposed, its territory between the Tiber and the Anio was open to the ravages of the Sabines, who sometimes extended their plundering expeditions in that direction to the immediate neighbourhood of the City itself. Nor had the wars with the Etruscans, since the expulsion of the Kings, been more successful. This period may indeed be considered the lowest point in the fortunes of the State-" so greatly had the power and dominion of Rome fallen since the overthrow of the Monarchy."

THE SULKS.

SULKY, are you? You will not eat your victuals, eh? Very well. Let them be. You will eat them before they will eat you; and you will get tired of your sulks before they will.

For shame! Think how ugly you look, with your lips sticking out and your cheeks puffed up as if you had a big wad of paper in each side of your mouth. Now straighten your face, look pleasant, and eat your victuals.Aunt Maude.

*Arnold, "Histry of Rome," vol. i, 208, 9.

2

The Editor's Desk.

QUERIES AND ANSWERS.

QUERY 1.-THE STONE ON WHICH THERE WERE SEVEN EYES.

text for

SIR,-A few days ago I was reading in Zechariah, when the passage in chapter iii. verse 9, engaged my attention, wherein the prophet has thus written :-" For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes." It appeared very strange and difficult to conceive how eyes could be upon a stone, and I was at a loss to understand its meaning. Will you please to explain this hard A CONSTANT READER? ANSWER.-The text cannot mean that a stone should have eyes of its own-that is certain; nor can it mean that the eyes of any creature should be taken out and put upon the stone. But it means that the image or representation of seven eyes should be engraven on the foundation or corner-stone of which the prophet is speaking. This is evident from the very next words which follow the text, for it says, "I will engrave the graving thereof." It was very common in those days, when a large building, such as a palace or a temple, was being erected, to signalize the occasion, either by depositing some record in the corner-stone, or by engraving thereon some inscription or hieroglyphical representation. Many such inscriptions or hieroglyphical representations are found at this day in connection with the corner-stones of the ancient buildings discovered at Nineveh and Babylon. Some time ago I saw a very fine one, which commemorated the erection of a temple by Nebuchadnezzar, and heard Sir H. Rawlinson state that, when he was excavating the foundations of Assyrian ruins, he always expected to find an inscription in or on the corner-stone of a public building. There seems to be an allusion to such inscriptions in Rev. xxi. 14, where it is said that, in the foundations of the city of the new Jerusalem, there are written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. So on the stone spoken of in Zechariah there was an engraving of "seven eyes."

All this you say is made quite clear; but what was intended by the "seven eyes engraved upon the stone?" The stone means Christ, who is the foundation-stone, elect and precious, which God

promised to lay in Zion; and the seven eyes are an emblematical representation of the Holy Spirit. For the eye is an emblem of intelligence, and the number seven indicates fulness, plenitude, perfection; and thus the seven eyes indicate the all-seeing, allpenetrating, omniscient Spirit of God, with the fulness, plenitude, and perfection of his gracious influence. We have the same image of "seven eyes" used in Rev. v. 6, to represent the Holy Spirit, for it is there said expressly, "The seven eyes are the seven Spirits of God; "—that is, the Holy Spirit; and the word seven being used to indicate the fulness and perfection of his influences. But why are the seven eyes engraven upon the stone? To show the intimate and inseparable connection between Christ and the Holy Spirit. Inseparably connected in personality and essence, for they both belong to the Divine nature. Inseparably connected in their office and ministrations; for Christ was sealed and anointed by the Holy Spirit in his work as our prophet, priest, and king. Inseparably connected as gifts; for the gift of Christ as our Saviour was followed on the day of Pentecost by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Inseparably connected, too, in the experience of true believers; for as certainly as we receive Christ into our hearts by faith, we receive also the Holy Spirit as our comforter, witness, and sanctifier. This remarkable passage of God's word is full of profound and comprehensive meaning.

says,

QUERY 2.-THE THREEFOLD INSCRIPTION ON THE CROSS OF CHRIST. DEAR MR. EDITOR,-On reading the account of the inscription written by Pilate, and put upon the cross of our Lord, I find it is given in somewhat different language by each Evangelist. Matthew "And [they] set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS" (xxvii. 37). Mark says, 66 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING of the JEWS" (xv. 26). Luke says, And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS" (xxiii. 38). John says, "And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS" (xix. 19). If the language of Scripture is, as we suppose it to be, inspired, how is it, dear sir, that we have this diversity? Yours most respectfully, A TEACHER.

ANSWER.-There is no discrepancy in the statements of the evangelists. The only difference is that one evangelist gives the inscription more full than another. This is usual in other narrations, and frequently occurs in the Gospel histories, and it is quite

consistent with verbal inspiration; for God often made his inspiration to flow in the channel of men's thoughts. St. John, who was an eye-witness of the crucifixion, gives the inscription complete, exactly as it was written by Pilate; but the other evangelists give it only so far as was necessary for their purpose-and that purpose was to show the ground, or rather the pretence set up by Pilate for our Lord's crucifixion; and Pilate, in setting up this pretence, condemned his own act, and proclaimed the innocence of our Lord. For the Jews had charged him with blasphemy, in calling himself the Son of God; but Pilate had condemned him to death, not for blasphemy, but for assuming earthly royalty, although he had heard our Lord say expressly that his kingdom was not of this world; and had not only heard this averment, but had clearly understood it; so clearly, indeed, as to declare publicly after his examination of our Lord, that he found no fault in him. He thus acquitted our Lord of the very charge contained in the accusation which was written and put upon the cross.

But though the accusation was false as to our Lord's assumption of earthly royalty, it was gloriously true in another and in a higher sense; and God designed that great truth to be thus proclaimed, even by his enemies and persecutors. It was true that our Lord, as to his Divine nature, was the King of the Jews-yea, of all nations, of all worlds and of all beings; for he is their creator and governor. It was true also that in his mediatorial character, our Lord was king over all, King of kings and Lord of lords. It is true that even as a man he was, at that moment when on the cross, the rightful heir to the throne of the Jewish nation. For he was not only the son of David according to the flesh, but he was the son of David by the twofold right of nature and of lawnature on the side of Mary, and law on the side of Joseph, the husband of Mary-for two lines of genealogy branching out from David more than 1,000 years before, now met in the person of Jesus Christ. It would seem, indeed, not only that Jesus was the true heir to David's throne, but the only proper heir, and as he died without natural issue, the royal heirship ceased with himor rather, is perpetuated for ever in him; for, as it is written, to him is given "the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Luke i. 32, 33, and compare with Isaiah ix. 6, 7.

It is very remarkable that the kingship of Christ received every kind of acknowledgment. It was oft foretold by the