Chron. xxvi, 15 ; Dio Cass. Ixvi, 41). Also by skilfully, managed sorties, which were disguised by mines (Jose- phus, Ant. xiv, 16, 2; War, v, 11, 4, etc.), they strove (especially by burning the siege-works) to break the siege (1 Mace, vi, 3 ; Josephus, War, v, 6, 6 ; 11, 5 ; vi'., 6, 4), and for this purpose they watched the enemy by sentinels posted on the walls (Josephus, War, v, 2, 5). The Israelites were enjoined to spare fruit-trees when thej' laid siege to a city (Deut. xx, 19 sq.; yet see 2 Kings iii, 25; comp. Michaelis, Mos. Recht, i, 378 sq.). The beleaguering of strongholds was sometimes carried on for a long time (so Hyrcanus was able to reduce Sa- maria only after an investment of a whole year, Jose- phus, ^?i^ xiii, 10, 3), and brought upon the besieged (even when they had provisioned themselves before- hand, 1 ]\Iacc. xiii, 3) so severe a famine (2 Kings vi, 25 sq. ; 1 Mace, vi, 53 sq. — but of a lack of water in be- sieged places there is seldom any mention [see Josephus, War, iii, 7, 12; Ant. xiv, 14, 6], probably owing to the copious cisterns usually at hand) that they were often obliged to resort to very unusual (comp. Judith xi, 11) and even nauseous means of subsistence (2 Kings vi, 25, 29; xviii, 27; Lara, iv, 10; Josephus, Ant. xiii, 10, 2; War, V, 10, 3 ; 13, 7 ; vi, 3, 3 ; comp. Barhebr. Chron. p. 149, 488). But the garrison sometimes contrived inge- niously to conceal from the besiegers the food and pro- visions brought into the city (Josephus, War, iii, 7, 12). Obstinate fortresses were taken by storm (comp. 1 INIacc. V, 51), and the houses were razed to the ground (Judg. ix, 45; 1 Mace, v, 52; Josephus, A7it. xiii, 10, 3. Occa- sionally the plough was passed over the site of a capt- ured town laid in ashes, Horace, Od. i, 16, 21 ; Senec. Clement, i, 26; but Mic. iii, 12 has no such allusion), the inhabitants massacred, manacled, and reduced to slavery (Judg. i, 25; 1 Mace, v, 52; comp. 2 Mace, v, 13 sq. ; X, 17, 23). See Siege. On the other hand, the enemy usually spared such places as surrendered (1 ^Macc. xiii, 43 sq.). Citadels which had never been captured were called in Oriental phrase virgins (see Ge- senius, Jesa. i, 736). — Winer, i, 371. See Fortifica- tion.
Muilk, Salojion, a Jewish writer of great celeb- rity, one of the most famous Shemitic scholars and Ori- entalists of our century, was born at Gross-Glogau, in Prussian Silesia, probably in 1802, though some put it 1805 and 1807. When fifteen years of age he left his native place for Berlin, where he studied under the fa- mous philologist Buttmann at the gymnasium of the " Gray Cloister," and then attended lectures at the uni- versity. From Berlin he went to Bonn, where the Ar- abic scholar Freytag lectured, and under his guidance he took up the study of Arabic. In order to complete his studies he went in the autumn of 1829 to Paris, to attend the lectures of Sylvestre de Sacy, Abel Remusat, Eu- gene Bournouf, and Chezy, who soon became his friends, and by whose assistance he completed his studies in the Arabic, Persian, and Sanscrit. In 1835 he visited Eng- land, and spent some time at the University of Oxford, collecting materials for an edition of Maimonides's cele- brated work, 2foreh Nehuchini (Guide of the Erring). Some essays which he wrote for the .Tournal Asiatique and the Dictionnaire des Sciences philosopkiques attracted the attention of the learned world, and in 1840 he was appointed deputy-keeper of the Oriental MSS. in the Royal Library of Paris. In the same year jMunlv was invited to accompany Sir Moses Montefiore and M. Cre- mieux to the East, in behalf of the persecuted Jews of Damascus, to which he gladly consented, and secured while in Egypt many interesting MSS. in Arabic relat- ing to the early literature of the Karaites, and other subjects of early Arabic literature. On his return he devoted himself so assiduously to his Arabic studies that he eventually lost his eyesight, and from 1852 was en- tirely blind. He had to relinquish his office in the li- brary, and lived in retirement until 1865, when he suc- ceeded M. Renan as professor of Shemitic languages in the College of France.. On Feb. 1 he delivered his in-
MUNKHOUSE
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IMUNSCHER
aufjural address, Cours de langues, Ihhraxque, Chaldn- iqup, et Syriaque. All scholars of France -Here elated at the appointment, even those who regretted the depo- sition of Kenan. The clergy also, Protestants as well as Iloman Catholics, liailed the choice with joy. The Union, well known for its ultramontane tendencies, whicli coidd hardly have been supposed to favor a Jew- ish incumbent in the chair just made vacant by a lia- tionali^t, thus commented: "A weak, blind man, who onlv In- the sense of touch can build up the world of his though ts, traverses the centuries of nations, cities, id- iom>. What a spiritual power! He is an ornament to scicni'o, for he teaches the scholar how to love. France possesses in him the greatest philologist, and though a mvstcrious decision of a kind Providence has robbed him of his physical light, the renown which he has gained, and the greater name which he will yet earn, are sure to shine in splendor for all times, and the light which he has shed into the darkness of Phoenician | knowledge will never die out." But he soon after died, | Feb. (i, 1«G7, lamented by all who knew him. Munk j was an authority in the field of Oriental languages, and | Ills works will always be highly esteemed. His princi- pal publications are, liejlexions sur le culte des imciens Jlcbnur, dam ses rapports avec les autres cidtes de Van- tlqitite (Hetlections upon the worship of the ancient He- brews, in its connection with the other worships of an- tiiiuity) (Paris, 1833): — Notice sur Rabbi Saadia Gaon et s(t rcr.non A rube (Flsaie, etc. (ibid. 1838) : — Notice sur Joseph he)i-J(houdah, etc. (ibid. 1842) :—Commentaire de R. i'dnboum de Jerusalem sur le livre de Ilabakhicl; etc. (ibid. 1843): — Llnsciiption Phanicienne de Mar- seille, etc. (ibid. 1847) : — Palestine, description (jeofjra- pliique, historique, et archeoloffique (ibid. 184."); Germ, traiisl. by Prof. M. A. Levy, Leipsic, 1871-72, 2 vols.) : — Notice sur Aboul-walid Jlerwan ibn Djanali, etc. (ibid. 1850): — Melanges de philosophie Juive et Arabe (ibid. 1849) ; a part of which, the Esquisse historique de la philosophie chez les Juifs, has been transl. into Ger- man by B. Beer (Leipsic, 1852): — but Munk's chf- d'uiirre is his Moreh Nebuchim of Moses Maimonides ((I. V.) in Arabic and French, with critical, literary, and explanatory' notes, under the title Le yuide des eyares, traite de theolorjie et de philosophie (vol. i-iii, Paris, 185tt- GG). See Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. ii, 407; Frankel, Monats- schrift, 18G7, p. 120-123, 453-459; Geiger, Jild. Zeit- schrift, 1867, p. 1-lG; Journal Asiatique, July, 1867; Etheridge, Jntroduct. to Hebr. Literaf. p. 482 sq. ; Griitz, Gesch. d.Juden, xi, 538, 540, 515; Jost. Csrh. d. Juden. V. s. Sektcn, iii, 3G3, 364; Cassel. [.■ Hj i-h n fur Gesch. u. Literat. p. 115, 117; Erentheil, ./(V-Z/.v- /„ ( luirakterbilder (Pesth, 1867, 8vo), p. 94-106; Jiiilisrhes AtheuKum, p. 168 s(\. ; Lewes, Hist, of Philos. vol. ii ; Ueberwcg, JJist. ofPhilos. i, 109 sq., 421. (J. H. W.)