The large shield (fiaTrlc, cUpeus) of the Greeks and Romans was originally of a circular form, and in the Homeric times was large enough to cover the whole body. It was made sometimes of osiers twisted togeth- er, sometimes of wood, covered with ox-hides sev- eral folds thick. On the centre was a projection called 6fi(pd\o(^, umbo, or boss, which some- times terminated in a spike. After the Koman soldier received pay, the 'ipeus was dis- Mtinued for the scutum, Bvpfor, of oval or oblong form, and adapted to the shape of the body. Signif- icant devices on shields are of urcat aiilii|uity. I .:\r\\ Kciman sol- ilirr liad his name Greek Shield. inscribed on his
Eomau Shields. (From Trnjau's Column.)
shield. Paul (Eph. vi, 16) uses the word Srvptog rather than ri(77rif, because he is describing the armor of a Ro- man soldier. See Kitto, Pict, Bible, note at Judg. v, 8. See Armok.
Shields, Alexander, was an English clergyman and minister of St. Andrew's. He was chaplain to the Cameronian Regiment in 1689. In August, 1699, he accompanied the second Darien expedition, and died, "worn out and heart-broken," in Jamaica (see Macaulay, Hist, of Eng. [1861], V, xxiv). His published works are, A Hind Let Loose ; or, A Historical Represeyitation of the Church of Scotland (1687, 8vo) : — IHstory of the Scotch Presbytery (1691, 4to), an epitome of the fore- going : — Elci/ii on the Death of James Renwick (1688) : — An Inquiry into Church Communion (2d ed. Edinb. 1747, sm.8vo) : — The Scots Inquisition (1745, sm. 8vo) : — also Sermons. See Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and A vier. A u- thors, s. v.; Darling, Cyclop. Bihlioy. s. v.
Shields, Hugh K., a Presbyterian minister, was born near P^lk Ridge Church, Giles County, Tenn., Dec. 10, 1806. He was converted to God in his seventeenth year, and, feeling his call to the work of the ministry, he entered upon a course of study with that object in view. He graduated at an academy near Elk Ridge, then at Jackson College, Columbus, Tenn., studied the- ology privately, and was licensed by West Tennessee Presbytery in 1836, and ordained by the same in 1837. He subsequently preached at the following places : Bethbcrei, Hopewell, Savannah, Elk Ridge, Corners- ville, Richland, Campbellsville, and Lynnville — all in Tenn. His active ministry lasted twenty-seven years; two j-cars before his death, Sept. 13, 1865, he was dis- abled from work by a severe accident. ^Ir. Shields was a zealous and faithful minister of the (iospel, ex- hii)iting to a high degree the characteristics of one who walked with God. See Wilson, Presb. Hist, A Imanuc, 1866, p. 362. (J.L.S.)
Shields, James, a Presbyterian minister, was bom in Pittsburi;li. Pa., Dec. 11, 1812. He graduated at the Western University of Pennsylvania, at Pittsburgh, in 1«30, studied theology four years under the instruction of Revs. Mungo Dick anil Jolni Pressly, D.l)., was li- censed April 2, 1834, by the Associate Refi)rmed Pres- bytery of Monoiigahela, and ordained in 1835 as pastor of tlie congregations of Fermanagh an<l Tuscarora, Ju- niata County, Pa. Here lie labored with varied success until the spring of 1H,")9, when, on account of failing liealtli, lie ceased to jireach in the Tuscarora branch of his charge, anil gave all his time to the Kermanagh congregation. He died Aug. 19, 1862. Mr. Shields pes-
SHIER -THURSDAY
671
SHHIOR
sessed a mind of more than ordinary power, and his ex- ercises Avere always of a higli order. See ^Vilson, Fresb. Hist. A Imiiuic, 181J4, p. 3o4 (J. L. S.)
Shier-Thursday. See Sheer-Thursday.
Shie-tsih, gods of the land and grain among the Chinese. There is an altar to these deities in Fekin, which is square, and only ten feet high, being divided into two stories of only five feet each. Each side of the S(iuare measures fifty-eight feet. The emperor alone has the privilege of worshipping at this altar, and it is not lawful to erect a similar one in any part of the empire for the use of any of his sul)jects. — Gardner, Faiths of the World, s. v.
Shigga'ion (Heb. Shiggnyon', 'ji'^S^; Sept. >pa\- [xoi; ; Vulg. Psalmits [Psa. vii, 1]), a particular kind of psalm, the specific character of which is not now known. In the singular number the word occurs nowhere in Hebrew except in the inscription of the above psalm ; and there seems to be nothing peculiar in that psalm to distinguish it from numerous others, in which the au- thor gives utterance to his feelings against his enemies and implores the assistance of Jehovah against them, so that the contents of the psalm justify no conclusive inference as to the meaning of the word. In the in- scription to the ode of the prophet Ilabakkuk (iii, 1), the word occurs in the plural number; but the phi^ase in which it stands, \d shigyonoth, is deemed almost unani- mously, as it would seem, bj' modern Hebrew scholars, to mean " after the manner of the shiggaiou," and to be merely a direction as to the kind of musical measures by which the ode was to be accompanied. This being so, the ode is no real help in ascertaining the meaning of shiggaiou ; for the ode itself is not so called, though it is directed to be sung according to the measures of the shiggaion. Indeed, if it were called a shiggaion, the difficulty would not be diminished; for, indepen- dently of the inscription, no one would liave ever thought that the ode and the psalm belonged to the same spe- cies of sacred poem. And even since their possible similarity has been suggested, no one has definitely pointed out in what that similarity consists, so as to justify a distinct classification. In this state of uncer- tainty, it is natural to endeavor to form a conjecture as to the meaning of shiggaion from its etymologj'^ ; but, unfortunately, there are no less than three rival ety- mologies, each with plausible claims to attention. Ge- senius and Flirst (s. v.) concur in deriving it from nSTIJ (the Piel of M5T13), in the sense of magnifying or extol- ling with praises; and they justify this derivation by kindred S3'riac words. Shiggaion would thus mean a hymn or psalm; but its specific meaning, if it have any, as applicable to Psa. vii, would continue unknown. Ewald (^Die poetischen Biicher des alten Bundes, i, 29), Rodiger (s. v. in his continuation of Gesenius's The- saurus), and Delitzsch {Commentar iiher den Psalter, i, 51), derive it from n^lU, in the sense of reeling, as from wine, and consider the word to be somewhat equivalent to a dithyrambus ; while De Wette (Die Psalinen, p. 34), Lee (s. v.), and Hitzig {Die zwolf kleinen Propheten, p. 26) interpret the word as a psalm of lamentation, or a psalm in distress, as derived from Arabic. Hupfeld. on the other hand {Die Psalinen, i, 109, 199), conjectures that shiggaion is identical with higgaion (Psa. ix, 16), in the sense of poem or song, from Tl^'n, to meditate or com- pose; but even then no information would be conveyed as to the specific nature of the poem. As to the inscrip- tion of Habakkuk's ode, nii'^STT hs, the translation of the Sept. is /xerd ',<j^//c, which conveys no definite mean- ing. The Vulgate translates pro ignorantiis, as if the word had been shegagoth, transgressions through igno- rance (Lev. iv, 2, 27 ; Numb, xv, 27 ; Eccles. v, 6), or she- gioth (Psa. xix, 13), which seems to have nearly the same meaning. Perhaps the Vulgate was influenced by the Targum of Jonathan, where shigyonoth seems to