Fifth-nionarcliy-'.'nen, a sect of Millenarians which sprung up in tlie time of Cromwell, and held that the millennial reign of Christ on earth, styled bv them the fifth great monarchy, reckoned in succes- sion Avith the Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman ones, was then to begin. Under the lead of Thomas Venner, a wine-cooper, thej' formed a plot to inaugu- rate their kingdom of the saints on April 9th, 1057, but were foiled by the vigilance of Thurloe, the secretar}' of state, and a number of the conspirators, arrested with arms in their hands, were sent to the Tower, tliough the penalty of the law, death, was not inflicted on any of them. On the Gth of January, 16G1, some fifty or sixty of these madmen, led by the same Ven- ner, rose in insurrection, if we may term it such, against the government of Charles 11, proclaimed "king Jesus," attacked the police force, and, after concealing themselves for two days in Caen W'ood, near Highgate, returned to encounter the train-bands, insanel}' believing that neither bullet nor steel could harm them. Most of them, refusing quarter, were slain outright ; but Venner and sixteen others were taken, tried, and executed. — Knight, Popular Hist, of England, iv, 20C, 251 ; Pidorial Hist, of Eiif/kmd, iii, ■421, 079 (Chambers's ed.); Burnet, //^';^ of His Otvn Times, vol. i, bk. ii ; Baxter, Hist, of the Church of England, p. 606, 611 ; Neal, Hist, of the Puritans (Lon- don), iv, 186. (J. W. M.)
Fig. The usual Hebrew word for this is nsXPl (teinah', of uncertain etymology), which is universally translated J79 (N. T. avKov^ ami fig-tree (N. T. (tvkTi) in both ancient and modern versions, and no doubt correct!}' so. It has from the earliest times been a highly esteemed fruit in the East, and its present as well as ancient Arabic name is tin. Wlien figs are spoken of as distinguished from the fig-tree, the masc. plur. form D'^iXri is used (see Jer. viii, 13). The oth- er words rendered _/?(/ in the Auth. Vers, are : 55 {pag, "green fig," Cant, ii, 13 ; ('iXuj'^oc, " untimely fig," Rev. vi, 13), a designation of the late fig, which, being unripe at the proper time for gathering, frequently hangs on the tree over winter (oomp. also tlie name Betii-piiage) ; and n^l^lSS (JiH^raA', " first ripe," Isa. xxviii, 4 ; Jer. xxiv, 2 ; INIic. vii, 1 ; Hos. ix, 10), which denotes the early or spring fig, still called hoc- cure in jMauritania, and in Spanish albacora (Shaw, Ti-arels, p. 370, fob). See also Sycamoue.
The fig is mentioned in so many passages of Scrip- ture that our space will not allow us to enumerate them, but they are detailed by Celsius {Hierohot. ii, 368). The first notice of it, however, occurs in Gen. iii, 7, where Adam and Eve are described as sewing fig-leaves together to make themselves aprons. The common fig-leaf is not so well suited, from its lobed nature, for tliis purpose ; but the practice of sev/ing or pinning leaves together is very common in the East even in the present day, and baskets, dishes, and um-
FIG
554
FIG
■farellas are made of leaves so pinned or sewn together. Hence some have supposed the Ficus Indicn to be the tree there referred to, but this is unlikely and unnec- essary. The iig-tree is enumerated (Deut. viii, 8) as one of the valuable products of Palestine, "a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pome-
Tlic I'ig (Ficus Caricu).
granates." The spies who were sent from the wilder- ness of Paran brought back from tlie brook of Eshcol clusters of grapes, pomegranates, and figs. Mount Ol- ivet was famous for its fig-trees in ancient times, and they are ptill found there (see Stanley. Sinai and Pahs- tine, p. 187, 421, 422). The fig-'ree is referred to as one of the signs of prosperity (1 Kings iv, '25). Hence "to sit under one's own vine and one's own fig-tree" became a proverbial expression among the Jews to danote peace and prosperity (Mic. iv, 4 ; Zech. iii, 10). The failure of this fruit is likewise noted as a sign of aflliction (Psa. cv, 33). The very frequent references Avhich are made in the Old Testament to the fig and other fruit-trees are in consequence of fruits forming a much more important article of diet in the warm and dry countries of the East than thev can ever do in the coid and moist regions of the North (see Judith x, 5; conip. ]\Iishna, Shehiith, iv, 7). Figs are also used me- dicinally; and we have a notice in 2 Kings xx, 7, of their employment as a poultice (comp. Plinj', xxiii, G2 • Dioscor. i, 184). In the historical books of the Old Testament mention is made of cakes of figs, used as articles of food, and compressed into that form for the sake of keeping them (Jn\aCic, cariccv, Lucian, Vit. A iirt. 19 ; Jlartial, xiii, 28). Such a cake was called nb^T (Talmud, bl,"" or ^33, Wi&\md^,Taumoth, iv, 8), or more fully C^IKri r^!2'n, on account of its shape, from the root ^3^, to make round (see 1 Sam. xxx, 12 ; Jcr. xxiv, 2 sq.). Hence, or rather from the Syr- iac srbjn, the first letter being drojiped, came the Gr. word 7ra\('(9t] (see AVesseling, ad. Diod. Sir. xvji, G7). Athen.xHis (xi, p. oOO, ed. Casaub.) makes express men- tion of the TTtiXaOi] ^vpidK)). Jerome, on Ezek. vi, describes the TraXi'iOt) as a mass of figs and rich dates, formed into the shape of bricks or tiles, and com- pressed in order that they may keep. Such cakes harden so as to need cutting with an axe. The fig is still extensively cultivated in the East, and in a dried state, strung U])on cords, it forms an extensive article of commerce from Persia to India. The fig-tree, though now successfully cultivated in a great part of Europe, even as far north as the southern parts of