ſeven cubits in length; and Pliny[1], copying profeſſedly from him, tranſlates the word ἑπταπήχει by ſeptem cubitorum; and Aulus Gellius[2] does the ſame, and adds, that theſe ſeven cubits were equal to 12¼ Roman feet, which would make the Greek cubit longer than it has hitherto been ſuppoſed in any computation.
Again, the authors of the Septuagint, in deſcribing the height of Goliah, who is repreſented to have been a man of gigantic ſtature[3]tranſlate the correſponding Hebrew words into, ὕψος αὐτοῦ τεσσάρων πήχεων καὶ σπιθαμῆς. This, if underſtood to be of the Greek cubit, according to common interpretation, will amount to ſix feet nine inches and ſix tenths of an inch; and, if we reckon according to Aulus Gellius's computation, will be ſeven feet ſeven inches and a quarter; both of them extraordinary heights, though neither of them exceeding credibility; as I have ſeen a man much taller than either.
But if we diminiſh this, according to Mr. Barré's calculation, to four Roman feet three inches, (equal to four Engliſh feet one inch and a quarter,) we ſhall ſink this boaſting giant into a dwarf; and probably make him much inferior in ſtature to his antagoniſt, David, whom he ſo much defpiſed.
We ſhould conſider that the authors of the Septuagint were perſons of great learning, and knowledge both in the Greek and in the Hebrew tongues; and were alſo prior in date to Dioſcorides by 330 years, and who muſt have known the real length of the
