near the lake of Tiberias and Damascus; but this state- ment is certainly erroneous. A\'e know from Pliny, Di- oscorides, and other Greek and Poman writers, that mustard-seeds were much valued, and were used as a condiment; but it is more probable that the Jews of our Lord's time were in the habit of making a similar use of the seeds of some common mustard (Sinapis) than that they used to plant in their gardens the seeds of a tree which certainly cannot fulfil the scriptural de- mand of being called 'a pot-herb'" (Smith). Dr. Tris- tram likewise (Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 472 sq.) takes strong ground in favor of the common black mustard and against the Salvadora J'ersica. Sec Kitto, J'ict. Bible, note on Luke xvii, G.
Mustitani is the name of a small and obscure sect of Donatists, condemned by the three hundred and ten bishops of that schism who met at Pagai or Vaya, in Numidia, A.D. 398. See Augustine, Contra Kpist. Par- vieiiiani, lib. iii, cap. 29.
Musurus, Marcus, a learned Italian ecclesiastic, was a native of the island of Candia ; emigrated to Ven- ice about the end of the loth century, and taught Greek in that city with great success. Afterwards he proceed- ed to Home, where Leo X showed him great favor, and nominated him bishop of Kjiidaurus, in the Morca. He had been just invested with this distinction when he died at Kome in 1517. He published the first edition of Athensus, printed by Aldus (Venice, 1514). Musu- rus published also the Elyvioloyiciivi Magmtm Gmcura (Venice, 1499, foL; reprinted in 1549, in 1594, and in 1710), and some Greek epigrams and other poetrj-, among them a poem in praise of Plato, prefixed to his edition of that philosopher's works, and translated into Latin verse by Zcnobio Acciaioli, Carmen in Platonem (Cam- bridge, 1797). — English Cyclop, s. v.
Mutevel, the president or chief ruler of a Moham- medan mosque in Turkey, into whose hands the reve- nue is regularly paid. See Gardner, Faiths of the World, p. 504.
Muth, Placidus, a German Poman Catholic theo- logian, was born at Poppenhausen, near Schweinfurt, Dec. 30, 1753 ; received his education at Wilrzburg and Erfurt ; then entered, at the age of twenty-four, a con- vent near Erfurt, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1783. In 1794 he was elected abbot of Pischofsrode and Erankenrode, under the title of Placidus the Second, and also provost at Celle. In 1797, after introdu<-ing to the prince-elector of Mentz the idea of a more thorough education in convents, he was appointed archie] liscopal counsellor; but his idea was never carried out, and he went, after the secularization of his convent, to Erfurt, where he was appointed chief counsellor of schools and government, and also director of the gymnasium at that place. He died in 1821. His most inijiortant works axQ, Disqvisitio hisforico-critica in bigamiam Comitis de Glcichen, cvjus moniimentum est in (ccbsia S. I'ttri Er- firdice ; una cum systematica theologite cuthnlicw sy- 7iopsi (Erfordiw, 1788, 8vb) : — Utber die I'trhiillni.-se der Philosophic und Theologie tiach Kantischen Grundsdtzen (ibid. 1791, 8vo) : — Progr. de 7wvis perantiqva I'niver- sitatis incrementis, de custris Thuringicis, quw rulgo Co- mitum de Gleichen dinintur, nee non de pluribus simiilacris Universitati litterarum Erfordiensi dono datis. Parti- ailn i et ii (ibid. 1812-13, 4to): — Gedlichtnissfitr der Befreiung Pius VII avs der Gefangenschaft zu Eoutaine- bleau vnd seine Hiickkehr in seine Staaten (ibid. 1814, 8vo). Sec Dr.ring, Gdehrte Theol. Ihutschlands, s. v.
Muth, Rufiis. See JIitiakis.
Muth-lab'ben (Hebrew, fully, ul mxtth labbm', "iSb niTS'by, upon the death to the son; Sept. vtrip Ttov Kpixpiuji' Toi' v'loti ; Vulg. ;)ro occult is flii ; Aulh. Ver. "upon Muth-labbcn"), a phrase occurring only in the title of Psa. ix. Tlie following are conjectures that have been made regarding its import : 1. Perhaps the favorite opinion of modern critics, of Gcsenius and De
MUTH-LABBEN
777
MUTIANUS
Wette among the rest, is to connect the Hebrew words so as to read 'almuth labhen, " with the voice of virgins [to be sung] by boys." But, granting the lawfulness of this critical "effort, there is considerable difficulty in extracting the translation desiderated. The word 'ala- moth does occur in probably some such meaning (Psa. xlvi, title ; 1 Chron. xv, 20) ; and it has been preferred by critics who modify the opinion now under considera- tion, to the extent of arriving at this word by altering the vowel-points as well as the division of the words. See Alamoth. Yet, after doing so, they have to face an awkward difficulty, arising from the absence of the preposition 'al, " upon ;" since they require this little word to become the first syllable of their noun. It is evident that the Sept. and Vulgate must have read tn'Tsby "bv, "concerning the mysteries," and so the Arabic" and Ethiopic versions. The Targum, Sym- machus {tripi Sravdrov tov v'lov), and Jerome (super morte Jilii), in his translation of the Hebrew, adhered to the received text, while Aquila (^I'eaviortjToc tov v'lov), retaining the consonants as they at present stand, read al-muth as one word, T'l^b?, "youth," which would be the regular form of the abstract noun, though it does not occur in Biblical Hebrew. In support of the reading 0172^2' as one word, we have the authority of twenty-eight of Kennicott's ]\ISS., and the assertion of Jarchi that he had seen it so written, as in Psa. xlviii, U, in the Great Masorah. If the reading of the Vulgate and Sept. be correct with regard to the con- sonants, the words might be pointed thus, T\^^d^V_ hv^ 'al 'alamoth, " upon Alamoth," as in the title of Psa. xlvi ; and '|35 is possibly a fragment of H^p ''23?, lib- ney Korach, "for the sons of Korah," which appears in the same title. 2. It has been very common to suppose that there is here the name of a person. The Jewish commentator Kirachi, according to Gesenius, mentions that some explained it, " upon the death of Labben," a person wholly unknown. But commonly the first syl- lable of labben has been taken to be the ordinary He- brew prefix preposition, "to, for, concerning." The Targum renders the title of the psalm, " On the death of the man who came forth from between ("t'^S) the camps," alluding to Goliath, the Philistine champion (n^3"i2n -d-^N, 1 Sam. xvii, 4). That David composed the psalm as a triumphal song upon the slaughter of his gigantic adversary was a tradition which is mentioned by Kimchi merely as an on dit. An old opinion, main- tained at present by Furst, is that it should be trans- lated " upon the death of Ben," who is named among the Levites appointed to preside over the music at the removal of the ark to its resting-place (1 Chron. xv, 18), while he is not named in the narrative of the actual re- moval ; indeed, his place seems to be filled by another, Azaziah (ver. 20, 21) ; and we are reminded of the sud- den death of Uzzah, when the removal was attempted on an earlier occasion. Hengstenberg, however, has re- vived an old opinion of Grotius— originally mentioned, but not adopted, by Jarchi— that Labben is transposed for Nabal, yet not so much with reference to the indi- vidual man as with reference to " the fool," which is em- phatically noticed as the meaning of his name; and he thinks the psalm refers a good deal to the end of the wicked. Donesh supposes tha-t lAibben was the name of the man who warred with David in those days, and to whom reference is made as "the wicked" in verse 5. Arama (quoted by Dr. Gill in his Exposition) identifies him with Saul. Jarchi says that some regarded Labben as the name of a foreign prince who made war upon the Israelites, and upon whose overthrow this song of praise was composed. 3. The word ben being the common Hebrew word for " son," and so translated in this title by the ancient versions generally, the translation has been offered, " upon the death of the son," or " upon dying in reference to the son," viz. David's sou Ab-