The face or countenance as the noblest part of the person was used to mean presence, and is often BO translated. From the imiuied invitation or per- mission to approach (Est 4"), it came to mean favour, acceptance. On the other hand, the with- held or averted face was equivalent to disapproval or rejection (Ps 13' 27»88'* 143' etc.). Such favour was called the light of the countenance, giving life and refreshment like that of the sun (Ps 89'° etc.). Among the Arabs, a fit of anger or the sudden ellect of hearing bad news is called the darkening of the sky on the face. To ' respect persons ' is generally d-j; k^j, but in Dt 1" 16'», Pr 24» 28" it is □•49 t;-!, lit. to recognize the presence of one {sc. unjustly).
To spit in the face was the strongest possible expression of scorn and aversion (Nu 1'2'*, Dt '25*, Job 30'», Is 50«, Mt 26" 27*', Mk 10»* 14», 15'», Lk 18'"). In heated altercation, an Oriental often uses an ejaculation which means ' I spit in your face,' at tne same time spitting on the ground at the feet of the person ne is quarrelling with. Modesty, humility, worship, self-abasement, are expressed by the veils of women (Gn 24'°), the reverential shrouding of the face with the mantle (I K 19"), the wings with which the seraphim covered the face (Is 6^), and the feu;e bowed to the ground (Gn 42* etc.). To have the face covered by another, as in the case of Haman (Est 7'), was a sign of doom ; the napkin drawn over the face and wound round the head was port of the covering of the dead (Jn !!«< 20'). Q. M. Mackie.
FACT.— A 'fact' (Lat. factum) la any act or deed, good or bad i and thi« was the oonunonest
826
FAIN
meaning of the word till abont the beginning of the present century. Thus Spenser, FQ I. iv. 34 —
* But, when the furious fit was overpast, His cruel facta he often would repent.'
Similarly Bunyan, PP (Clar. Pr. ed. p. 42), ' falling down upon his knees, he [Christian] asked God forgiveness for that his foolish fact.' So T. Adams, // Peter (Pur. Divines), p. 3, ' Theodosius excused a foul fact, because Da\id had done the like.' This is the meaning in 2 K 10 (headin") ' .lehu by liis letters causeth seventy of Ahab b children to be beheaded : he excuseth the fact by the prophecy of Elijah ' ; and 2 Mac 4** ' Certain of the Greeks that abhorred the fact also ' (Gr. ffufifutroTrouTjpoOvTtov Kal tCjv 'EXXiJi^wv, KV * the Greeks also joining with them in hatred of the wicked- ness.' This is the only example of (rv/jL/j.., though lwjOTrovTip(u is found 2 ftlac 4^^ [A -ei><j] 8*). The present use of ' fact ' for something that has actually occurred, an undeniable truth, though quite clas.sical lor factum, and belonging to all the Romanic equivalents (Fr.fait, It./atto, Sp. hecho), is not found in English before 1632.
J. Hastings. FAIN is properly 'glad,' as Dyke, Worthy Commun. 56, 'Then full faine wilt thou be to have Christ Jesus receive thy soule' ; or ' gladly,' as Jn 12" Tind. ' Syr, we wolde fayne se Jesus.' But the commonest meaning has always been ' glad under the circumstances,' and that is its meaning in AV : Job 27-""^ ' he would fain flee out of his hand ' (nia; nn;, AVm ' in fleeing he would flee ') : 1 Mac 6" ' they were fain to disperse them- selves ' (((TKopTiad-naav, RV ' they were scattered ') ; Lk 15" ' he would fain have fiilled his belly witli the husks that the swine did eat ' (iveOviui.). Cf . Shaks. Lear, iv. vii. 38 —
' and wast thou fain, poor father. To hovel thee with swine, and rogues forlorn. In short and musty straw ? '
From this the word easily slipped into the sense of ' obliged,' ' compelled,' as in Pref. to A V ' he was fain to make this answer, I cannot [read the book] for it ifl sealed ' ; Is 1' Cov. ' Youre londe lieth waist . . . and ye must, be fayne to stonde and loke upon it ' ; and Defoe, Crusoe : ' When the tide was out, I got most of the pieces of cable ashore, and some of the iron, though with infinite labour ; for I was fain to go for it into the water, a work which fatigued me very much.'
To the three examples in AV, RV adds two : Lk 13^' 'Herod wouJd fain kill thee' (flAei cc avoKTelvat ; AV ' will kill thee,' the tr° of all previous Eng. VSS [Wye. ' will slay thee ']) ; and Ac 21)^ ' With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian ' ('E>' 6\lytf /le ire/ffcis XpLffTumiy m^aat ; AV ' Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian,' following TR yeviadai for voi^crtu).
The reading, nnrau or yttittmi, ia discussed in WH 'Select lieadings,' ad toe. The best ar^rument for wtiv^^i is ita ditH- culty ; to simplify the construcUon, yi*ir6a4 may have been taken in from the next verse.
The translation is, on either reading, nearly impossible. The AV is a combination of the Geneva NT (1557), * Almost thou pereuadest me to become a Christian,' and the Bishops', ' Som- what thou perswadest mo to be a Christian.' But it gives an unknown sense to i> ikjym, besides following the less probable yi»iftia4. The RV is new. and is got (1) by mentally supplying !•.• (7) 'labour' after i> «'x<V« ; (2) by translating ridOui ' wouldest fain,' so as to bring out the sense, which it certainly haa, of ' attempt to persuade ; and (3) by supplying irri before wotiirtu. It is adversely criticised by Field, Otiitm Sorv. iii. nd loc. But Reniiall, Acts o/ Apon. in Gre<k and I-Jiujlwh (la'.}"), accept* it, rendering, ' At little cost thou wouldest fain persuade me to make me a Christian I ' ^e exclamation mark is intended to suggest the irony in Agnppa's voice).