TAMAR
193
TAMIL VERSION
wasted away, from the feeling that it was impossible to gratify his desire, " for she was a virgin" — the narra- tive leaves it uncertain whether from a scruple on his part, or from the seclusion in which, in her unmarried state, she was kept. Morning by morning, as he re- ceived the visits of his friend Jonadab, he is paler and thinner (Josephiis, Ant. vii, 8, 1). Jonadab discovers the cause, and suggests to him the means of accom- jilishing his wicked purpose. He was to feign sickness. The king, who appears to have entertained a consider- able affection, almost awe, for him as the eldest son (2 Sam. xiii, 5, 21 ; Sept.), came to visit him ; and Amnon entreated the presence of Tamar on the pretext that she alone could give him the food that he would eat. What follows is curious, as showing the simplicity of the roval life. It would almost seem that Tamar was supposed ^o have a peculiar art of baking palatable cakes. She came to his house (for each prince appears to have had a separate establishment), took the dough and kneaded it, and then in his presence (for this was to be a part of his fancy, as if there were something exquisite in the manner of her performing the work) kneaded it a second time into the form of cakes. The name giv^en to these cakes (/e&iia/;), " heart -cakes," has been variously explained: "hollow cakes," "cakes with some stimulating spices" (like our word cordial), cakes in the shape of a heart (like the Moravian (/e- r'uhrte H^rzen, Thenius, ad loc), cakes "the delight of the heart." Whatever it be, it implies something spe- cial and peculiar. She then took the pan in which they had been baked and poured them all out in a heap before the prince. This operation seems to have gone on in an outer room, on which Amnon's bedchamber opened. He caused his attendants to retire, called her to the inner room, and there accomplished his design. In her touching remonstrance two points are remarka- ble. First, the expression of the infamy of such a crime " in Israel," implying the loftier standard of morals that prevailed as compared with other countries at that time; and, secondly, the belief that even this standard might be overborne lawfully by royal authority — " Speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from thee." This expression has led to much needless explanation from its contradiction to Lev. xviii, 9; xx, 17; Deut. xxvii, 22 ; as, e. g., that her mother, ]\Iaachah, not being a Jew- ess, there was no proper legal relationship between her and Amnon; or that she was ignorant of the law; or that the Mosaic laws were not then in existence (The- nius, «rf loc). It is enough to suppose, what evidentlj' her whole speech implies, that the king had a dis|>ens- ing power which was conceived to cover even extreme cases. The brutal hatred of Amnon succeeding to his brutal passion, and the indignation of Tamar at his bar- barous insult, even surpassing her indignation at his shameful outrage, are pathetically and graphically told, and in the narrative another glimpse is given us of the manners of the royal household. The unmarried prin- cesses, it seems, were distinguished by robes or gowns with sleeves (so the Sept., Josephus, etc., take the word translated in the A. V. " divers colors"). Such was the dress worn by Tamar on the present occasion, and when the guard at Amnon's door had thrust her out and closed the door after her to prevent her return, she, in her agony, snatched handfuls of ashes from the ground and threw them on her hair, then tore off her royal sleeves, and clasped her bare hands upon her head, and rushed to and fro through the streets screaming aloud. In this state she encountered her brother Absalom, who took her to his house, where she remained as if in a state of widowhood. The king was afraid or unwilling to interfere with the heir to the throne, but she was avenged by Absalom, as Dinah had been by Simeon and Levi, and out of that vengeance grew the series of calamities which darkened the close of David's reign (see Stanley, Jeioish Church, ii, 128). B.C. 1033, See David.
4. Daughter of Absalom, called, probablv, after her X.— N
beautiful aunt, and inheriting the beautj' of both aunt and father (2 Sam. xiv, 7). She was the sole survivor of the house of Al)salom ; and ultimatelj-, by her mar- riage with Uriah of Gibeah, became the mother of Maa- cliah, the future queen of Judah, or wife of Abijah (I Kings XV, 2), JMaachah being called after her great- grandmother, as Tamar after her aunt. B.C. 1023. See Absalom.
Tambourine. See Timbhel.
Tamburini, a name common to several Roman ec- clesiastics, of whom we mention the following:
1. Michael Anoelus, of Modena, was made general of the Jesuits Jan. 31, 1706, and died Feb. 28, 1730.
2. PiETKO, born in 1737 at Brescia, received his theological and philosophical training at the seminary of his native place, where he afterwards acted as the head of the lyceum founded by him. He was also head of the Co/li'ffitim Germanicum at Rome, and was pro- moted by Maria Theresa to a professorship of theology, and in 1779 to the chair of natural law and moral phi- losophy at Pavia. He resigned his professorship in 1795, but was compelled by the French authorities in Lombardy to fill the chair of ethics and international law in 1797. For three years, 1798-1801, this chair was suppressed, but, being restored in the latter year, was filled by Tamburini till 1818, when he was appointed dean of the faculty of law. He died at Pavia, March 14, 1827. He was made a chevalier of the Iron Crown b}' the emperor of Austria, and received other distinc- tions. He wrote, Idea della Santa Sede (Pavia, 1784) : — Iniroduzione alio Studio della Filosofia (Milan, 1797) : — Lezioni di Filosofia Morale, etc. (Pavia, 1806-12,4 vols.): — Elemenfa Juris Naturm (Milan, 1815): — Cenni sulla Perfettibilita. delV Uniana Famiglia (ibid. 1823) : — Prcelectiones de Ecclesia Christi et Uuiversa Jurispru- deiitia Ecclesiastica, quce habuit in A cademia Ficinensi (Lipsiae, 1845, 4 pts.): — Preelectiones de Justitia Christ, et de Sacramentis, de Ultimo Hominis Fine deque Virtu- tibus Theol. et Cardinalibus (Ficino, 1783-85, 3 vols.) : — Aiialisi delle Apoloijiie di S, Justino Mart., con alcune Riflessioni (Pavia, 1792) : — Ragionamenti sul \° Libra di Oriff. contj-a Cello (ibid. 1786) : — on Tertullian, Analisi del Libro delle Prescrizioni, con alcune Osservazioni (ibid. 1782).