^ CanthSroB (a ai^ orpoC), In the atrium of an- cient churches there was commonly a fountain or cis- tern, in which worshippers could wash their hands and faces before entering the church. Eusebins says tliat in the oourt over against the church were placed foun- tains (Kpfivai) of water, as symbols of purification, for such to wash as entered into the church (De OraL c. xl). Paulinus, bishop of Nola, caUs this fountain canthartu iEpUt. xii, ad Sever,), In some places, according to Dufresne, the fountain was surrounded with lions, ^ whose mouths water spouted ; whence the place
is also called by some ecclesiastical writerB leontarimm. It is also called ngfinphteum, KoXvfi^XoVj both of whidi signiiy a fountain. TertuUian exposes the absurdity of men going to prayers with washed hands while they retained a filthy sfMt and polluted souL Some of the Roman Catholic writers pietend to justify their use of holy water fhmi the existence of this ancient custom. It is, however, more probable that it owes its origin to the Grecian rite called ircfOt^povrifpui, or Imtral tprimk- /mi^.— Bhigham, Orig. Ecda, bk. viii, ch. iii, § 6, 7.
Canthfiras (Kay3i|pac), a person mentioned bj Josephus {Ant, xx, 1, 8) as having been deposed fh>m the Jewish high-priesthood by Herod, king of Chalets, to make room for Joseph, the son of Cann, A.D. 45; he is elsewhere (JLnt, xlx, 6, 2) identified with the SncoN (q. V.) who had before enjoyed that honor, as the son of (Simon, the son of) BoGthius, fkther-in-law of Herod the Great {Ani. xv, 9, 8). See HiOH-x*BtBST.
Cantiole (son^), applied commonly to sacred songs chanted in the Church, such as tlie BemedicUe,
Can'tioles, or Solomon's Song (called in ver. 1 JSkir katk-Shirim', U^'^^TBSt} "^^p, Song of the Songe, a Heb. superiative ; Sept. ^fut 6ff/i6rmy, Ynlg. Cbi- tiam Cantiearwn), entitled in the A. Y. «*The Soxo OP SoLOMOir." No book of the O. T. has been the subject of more varied criticism, or been more f^ quently selected fbr separate translation than this lit- tiepoem. It is one of the five ma^iOoeA or rolls placed in most Jewish MSS. of the Scriptures inmiediatdy after the Pentateuch, but in the Heb. printed oopies it constitutes the fourth of the KetfAim or Hagiograpka (q. v.). (See Davidson in Home's Jntrod, new ed. ii, 790 sq.) See Biblb.
I. Author and /)ate.— By tiie Hebrew tiUe it is as- cribed to Solomon ; and so in all the versions, and by the m^ority of Jewish and Christian writers, ancient and modem. In fkct, if we except a fbw of the Tal- mudical writers {Baba Bathra, R. Moses Kimchi ; see Graj's K€g)f who assigned it to the age of Hexekiah, there is soucely a dissentient voice down to the close of the last century. More recent criticism, however, has called in question this deep-rooted and well-accred- ited tradition. Among En^^ish scholars Kennioott, among German Eichhorn and RosenmQller, regard the poem as belonging to the age of Ezra and Nehemiah (Kennicott, Dist. i, p. 20-22; Eichhorn, leagogen in V, T, pt ill, § 647, p. 581 sq., 2d ed. ; Bosenm. SdwL m V, T,) Kennicott based his opinion upon the uniform insertion of the *^ in all the copies, in tlie name of David (T<1*T). The name, however, occurs only once (iv, 4) ; and the insertion of the letter in this solitary instance is easily accounted for by a supposed error in transcription. At any rate, the insertion o^ the *f would not bring the Canticles so fax down as the time of Ezra, since we find the same peculiarity in Hos. iii, 5, and Amos vi, 5 (Ge- senius, Theaaur, s. v.) The charge of Chaldaism has been vigorously pressed by RosenmCdler, and espe- cially by Eichhorn. But Gesenius (Heb, Gr, § 2) as- signs the book to the golden age of Hebrew literature, and traces ''the few solitary Chaldaisms" which occur in the writings of that age to the hands of Chaldee copyists. Gesenius has moreover suggested an im- portant distoiction between Chaldaisms and diaiedic variations indigenous to Northern Palestine, where he conjectures that Judges and Cantidee were composed. The application of this principle is sufficient to elimi- nate most of the Chaldaisms alleged by Eichhorn (e. g. v3 fbr ^tbM) ; while the occurrence of similar iomnM in Phoenician affords an indication of other intrusive forces besides the AramiBan acting upon the BibUoai Hebrew. Nor is the suggestion of (jesenius that the book was written in Northern Palestine, and conse- quently tinged with a local coloring, inconsistent with the opinion which places it among the "one thou- sand and five** songs of Solomon (TL Kings iv, 82).
CAIfTICLES
98
CANTICLES
Coiip.l Kings iz, 19 with 2 Chron. vili, 6, where the boMngs of Lebanon are decidedly contrasted with thoee of Jeroaalem, and are not, therefore, to be con- fbanded with the " lionae of the forest of Lebanon" (1 Kmgs vii, 2), which was probably in Jerusalem. By a &nher comparison of these passages with Robinson {BiU. &t, iii, 441), who describes remains of massive bofldmgs as still standing- on Lebanon, it ¥rill appear probable that Solomon had at least a hunting-seat somewhere on the slopes of that mountain (comp. Cant iv. 9). In such a retreat, and under the infln- moe qf its scenery, and the language of the snrroond- ing peasantry, he may have written Canticles. Ar- tistically this would have been in keeping with the general conditions of pastoral poetry. In our own language such compositions are not unfrequently ac- commodated to rustic ideas, and sometimes to provin- cial dialects. If^ moreover, it should be urged that Chaldaisms are not provincialisms, it may be replied that Solomon coold scarcely be igncffant of the Ara- msan literature of his own time, and that he may have consciously used it for the purpose of enrichment {GwiiLBeb. Gr, §2,4).