Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/373

Rh K E L R E L 355 point for methodical study of the sources, Reiske's edition with his version and notes certainly laid the foundation for research in Arabic history. The foundation of Arabic philology, however, was laid not by him but by De Sacy. Reiske's linguistic knowledge was great, but he used it only to understand his authors ; he had no feeling for form, for language as language, or for metre. He was diligent in lexicographic collections, but cared nothing for etymology or for any speculations that transcended the historical data before him. This narrowness of interest was the counterpart of his hatred for pedantry and strong love of reality. His greed for historical facts made his studies a sort of vast foray in Arabic literature, but with this he is not to be reproached. In Leipsic Reiske worked mainly at Greek, though he continued to draw on his Arabic stores accumulated in Leyden. Yet his merit as an Arabist was sooner recognized than the value of his Greek work, partly perhaps because his talents were really at their best in dealing with a literature which suffers little injustice through lack of interest in its form, but mainly because his con- temporaries in Greek learning were narrow and had not the judg- ment to appreciate him. Reiske the Greek scholar has been rightly valued only in recent years, and it is now recognized that he was the first German since Sylburg who had a living knowledge of the Greek tongue. His reputation does not rest on his numer- ous editions, often hasty or even made to booksellers' orders. The text was never his main concern, and he often let received readings stand against his own judgment. The valuable matter lies in his remarks, especially his conjectures. He himself designates the Animadversationes in Scri2)tores Grsecos as flos ingenii sui, and in truth these thin booklets outweigh his big editions. Closely following the author's thought he removes obstacles whenever he meets them, but he is so steeped in the language and thinks so truly like a Greek that the difficulties he feels often seem to us to lie in mere points of style. His criticism is empirical and unmethodic, based on immense and careful reading, and applied only when he feels a difficulty ; and he is most successful when he has a large mass of tolerably homogeneous literature to lean on, whilst on isolated points he is often at a loss. Phonetics, dialects, orthography were indifferent to him; metre he did not understand. His corrections are often hasty and false, but a surprisingly lai'ge proportion of them have since received confirmation from MSS. And, though his merits as a Grecian lie mainly in his conjectures, his realism is felt in this sphere also ; his German translations especially show more freedom and practical insight, more feeling for actual life, than is common with the scholars of that age. 1 Reiske was essentially a pioneer, who neither left any complete performance behind him nor marked out for others a sharply defined method of research. This was partly due to his unhappy circumstances, but mainly to his passionate interest in all history and all letters, which never allowed him to linger in any one field. The son of the Zorbig tanner, driven by a natural instinct to Arabic lore, devoured by eager desire to view the unknown treasures of distant ages and lands, is an attractive figure amidst the pedants of learned Germany as it then was. Reiske was not amiable, but he was a real character a character, too, sustained by genuine piety when the deep waters threatened to close over his head. For a list of Rciske's writings see Mouse], xi. 192 sq. His chief Arabic works (all posthumous) have been mentioned above. In Greek letters his chief works are Constantini Porphyrogeniti libri II. de ceremoniis aulie Byzant., vols. i. ii., Leipsic, 1751-GG, vol. iii. , Bonn, 1829 ; Animadv. ad Grxcos auctores. 5 vols., Leipsic, 1751-66 (the rest lies imprinted at Copenhagen); Oratorum Griec. qux supersunt, 8 vols., Leipsic, 1770-73; App. crit. ad Demosthenem, 3 vols., ib. 1774-75; Maximus Titr.,ib., 1774 ; Plutarchus,ll vols., ib.. 1774-79; Dionys Italic., 6 vols., ib., 1774-77; Lilanius, 4 vols., Altenburg, 1784-97. Various reviews in the Acta Eruditorum and Zuverl. Nachrichten are characteristic and worth reading. Compare D. Johann Jacob Reiskens von ihm selbst aufgesetzte Lebensbeschreibunq, Leipsic, 1783. (J _ V E.) RELAND, ADRIAN, a meritorious Dutch Orientalist, was born at Ryp, July 17, 1676, studied at Utrecht and Leyden and successively professed Oriental languages with great success at Harderwijk (1699) and Utrecht (1701). In the latter chair, from which he also lectured on sacred antiquities, he remained till he died of small-pox February 5, 1718. Reland's most important work is Palsestina ex vcteribus monu- mentis illustrate, Utrecht, 1714, an admirable collection which is still the most valuable book on the historical geography of the Holy Land. His Antiquitates sacraz veterum Hebrseorum, learned, clear, and compact, is also a most useful book ; and his other writings and collections for he reprinted many curious and useful tracts of other scholars on Biblical and Rabbinical topics all show judg- ment as well as knowledge. His works are enumerated by Barman, Tmj. Erud., p. 296 sq. RELICS. Relics, in what may be called their merely human and historic aspect, appeal to many of the most 1 For this estimate of Reiske as a Greek scholar the writer is indebted to Prof. U. v. Wilaniowitz-Moellendorff. obvious and most deeply seated principles of human nature to that power of connexion with the past which has been justly called one of the divinest elements of our being, to the law of association, and to that love of something like ocular testimony which so notoriously affects the mind more forcibly than " the hearing of the ear." The Russian general Suwaroff, " albeit unused to the melting mood," is reported to have been deeply touched by the relics of departed greatness laid bare by the discovery of a palace in the Crimea which had been built by Mithradates. Many of those who were present at the opening of the tomb of Robert the Bruce at Dunfermline were quite unmanned at the sight of the skull that had toiled for Scot- land's weal, and the arm that had struck down Sir Henry de Bohun on the eve of the battle of Bannockburn ; and at the funeral of the duke of Wellington, in 1852, the pathetic part of the processional ceremonial was found te lie in the riderless charger, bearing relics of the deceased warrior. In 1802 Napoleon Bonaparte, while making his preparations at Boulogne for the invasion of England, pro- fessed to have found a coin of Julius Caesar and a weapon which had belonged to one of the soldiers of William the Conqueror. Napoleon had a profound belief in the power of the imagination. It is needless to dwell upon his object in ostentatiously announcing these discoveries. It is obvious, however, that, apart from designs such as that of Napoleon, pretended relics, sometimes associated with real sometimes with legendary events, would be sure to spring from human credulity, from love of the marvel- lous, and from hopes of gain. Perhaps all settled Govern- ments exhibit relics, such as regalia and the like, of which many are perfectly authentic, while some would not bear close examination. The same may be said of family treasures. We read of ancient Romans exhibiting curiosi- ties, such as fragments of the ship " Argo." Again, relics are apt to gather round a great name. The town of Lutterworth possessed an ancient chair and a piece of a cope. Each became, despite of want of evidence, and indeed against evidence, associated with the name of Wickliffe. It would be strange indeed if religion (which, alike in its good features and in its abuses, penetrates more deeply than anything else into the human heart) were found to be dissociated from relics. Probably all the more widely spread creeds claim some such material links with the past. Let it suffice to mention here the Ka'ba at Mecca, and the tooth of Buddha exhibited in Ceylon. We turn to the pre-Christian and Christian dispensa- tions. The Old Testament contains allusions to relics too numerous to mention. We may refer to the language of the epistle to the Hebrews, which speaks of the holy of holies as containing the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant, wherein were the golden pot that had manna and Aaron's rod that budded and the tables of the covenant (Heb. ix. 4, 9; Exod. xxv. 10, 16; Num. xvii. 10). These were believed to have been lost at the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar. We also read of the sword of Goliath being preserved- as something sacred (1 Sam. xxi. 9). Certainly, however, in one respect, perhaps in two (though of seemingly opposite tendencies), Judaism stands in this matter distinguished from contemporary religions. Nowhere else should we read of a valued and most interest- ing relic being destroyed by a devout ruler because it was found to have been abused and to have led to idolatry, as was done to the brazen serpent by Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii. 4). But it may also be questioned whether the records of any other people contain an account of a miracle wrought by the relics of a deceased prophet. We may indeed read of a miracle wrought in heathendom for the defence of