20. nouj .
21. diminuit. Exod. xvi. 18.
22. ampliavit.
23. This agrees with the LXX, kai\ a!nqrwpo&j e0sti kai\ gnw&setai au)to&n ;
24. specie.
25. puerum.
26. 'Ecce ego mittam servum meum, Oriens nomen Ejus.' Vulg. has 'Ecce ego adducam servum meum Orientem.' 'Oriens nomen Ejus' comes in v. 12. 'Behold I will bring forth my servant the Branch.' The same word in the original is used also in Is. iv. 2. Jerem. xxiii. 5. xxxiii. 15. and in all those passages the Vulg. renders it by 'Germen.' In the passages of Zech. and, Jerem. the LXX. have the word a0natolh& . The word in the original means 'a sprout' or 'shoot.'
27. See Letter xxxii. 1.
28. He is quoting from a letter of Cicero's. Ep. ix. 3. Longi subsellii, ut noster Pompeius appellat, judicatio et mora.
29. He is here quoting from Cicero De off. iii. 1, when; Cicero gives as a saying of Scipio Africanus, on the authoritvof Cato, 'nuquam se minus otiosum esse quam quum otiosus, nec minus solum quam quum solus esset.' It is quoted, again by S. Ambrose in De off. Min. iii. 1, 107.
30. This is the reading of most MSS, according to the, Benedictine Editors. And, though the connection of ideas is somewhat abrupt, they explain it to be, that, as the gift of faith was bestowed on Abraham the Chaldean, so the gift of prophecy was bestowed on Balaam. All the other Editions have 'Balaam' instead of 'Abraham.' This makes the connection easier, but then 'adscitur ad fidem' is strangely applied to him, and it could only mean, 'is employed to utter the truth.' He might be called a Chaldean as the common name among the Romans for Eastern diviners generally.
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