Commentaria in Deuteronomium
The LETHEC is the half of the cor, that is, about 15 modii, and the word lethec signifies a lifting up: for it is a load which a vigorous youth can lay upon an ass. EPHI, or EPHA, BATH and METRETA are equal, and are the tenth part of the cor, Ezech. xlv, 11. The ephi contains three sata: the satum contains 24 logs, that is, sextarii: therefore the ephi contains 72 sextarii. The water-pots in Cana of Galilee, each holding two or three metretae, therefore held 144 or more sextarii, or great cups. The bath was twofold, says Villalpandus: the greater, containing a metreta and a half, that is 108 sextarii: the less, containing a metreta, that is 72 sextarii. For thus, he says, is to be reconciled the place 3 Kings vii, 26, where it is said that the brazen sea contained two thousand baths, with 2 Paral. iv, 5, where it is said that the same sea held three thousand metretae, or, as the Hebrew has it, baths, because the greater bath contained a metreta, or one lesser bath and a half; two thousand greater baths, therefore, made three thousand metretae, or lesser baths. So Villalpandus. But Alcazar, lib. On Measures, prop. 14, shows that these baths were not common, but extraordinary and smaller, and were only a tenth part of the bath; and that they were twofold, so that one was half as much again as the other.
I say therefore with Alcazar: The common bath, ephi and metreta are equal to each other, and to the Roman amphora, and contain 48 Roman sextarii, that is 960 ounces of water: hence the ephi contained three modii, Ruth ii, 17, as the homer, containing ten ephi, contained 30 modii, ordinary modii, that is Roman among the Latins: and the Roman modius contained 320 ounces of water, as all agree: therefore the ephi, containing three modii, contained 960 ounces. This he proves at length and solidly from St. Jerome, Epiphanius and others, Alcazar supra, with whom Mariana agrees; indeed St. Jerome and Epiphanius, who asserts that the cor is the same as 30 Roman modii, and that both the name and the measure of the modius were borrowed by the Romans from the Hebrews.
…3 Kings 7:26, where it is said that the brazen sea held 900 ounces. Alcazar above demonstrates this at greater length and solidly from St. Jerome, Epiphanius and others, and Mariana agrees with him;
Wherefore, since Josephus and others say that the bath, or ephi, contained 72 Hebrew sextarii, it follows that the Hebrew sextarius, or log, contained not 20 ounces, as the Roman sextarius did, but only 13⅓; for if you multiply 13⅓ by 72 sextarii, you will find precisely 960 ounces, which the bath or ephi contains. So Mariana and Alcazar.
Consequently, since the tenth part of the bath or ephi is the gomor or assaron, it follows that the gomor or assaron contained not 144 ounces, as Villalpandus will have it, nor 63, as Ribera will have it, but 96, that is 8 pounds of 12 ounces: for divide the ephi, containing 960 ounces, by ten, and you have 96.
Hence it is easy to conceive how the Hebrews ate a gomor of manna daily: for this, being lighter than wheat, weighed not 76 ounces, but much less, about 50 ounces only. Again, how the small table could hold the loaves of proposition, each of which consisted of two gomors or two assarons. For although these, full of Palestine wheat, would weigh 16 pounds, that is 192 ounces, yet in flour or fine meal, by reason of its looseness and lightness, they weighed only 13 pounds and a half, as I showed on Levit. xxiv, 5.
Hence again is deduced what was the measure of the hin. The hin contained 12 sextarii: now the Hebrew sextarius contained 13⅓ ounces; multiply therefore 13⅓ by 12 and you have 160 ounces, that is 13⅓ pounds: so many the hin contained, and it was equal to the Roman half-modius. So Alcazar, more aptly than Villalpandus, who gives the hin 12 Roman sextarii, that is 240 ounces. For he thinks the Hebrew sextarius to have been equal to the Roman; but Alcazar well refutes this.
The fourth part of a hin was three Hebrew sextarii, that is 40 ounces of water or wine; that is, three pounds and 4 ounces.
The SATUM is the third part of the ephi, and contains a Roman modius. The satum and the modius, therefore, are equal, as are the metreta and the ephi. So Alcazar. Others assign to the satum a modius and a half.
The Egyptian ARTABA contains three Roman modii and a third, says Villalpandus. But Alcazar and others give the artaba five modii.
The CABUS, or choenix of the Hebrews, is the measure of a day’s food; it contains 4 sextarii, that is six and a half pounds: so Villalpandus, because he thinks the Hebrew sextarius to have been equal to the Roman. But Alcazar better, who assigns to the Hebrew sextarius only 13⅓ ounces, and consequently to the Hebrew cab, containing 4 logs or sextarii, 53⅓ ounces of water: for the cab was the twelfth part of the ephi, or bath and amphora, and the fourth part of the satum. The log, or Hebrew sextarius, is 13⅓ ounces. The CADUS is a water-pot: whether it is a kind of measure, and of what capacity, cannot be gathered from Scripture, says Villalpandus; although Cenalis and Fannius think that the amphora, especially the Attic, is sometimes called cadus, from containing; and so the cadus will contain 12
The AROBA, or Spanish cantharus, consists of eight Italian boccali, 49 pounds and 8 ounces, that is 519 ounces, and is the fourth part of the fanega.
The Boccale. The Acumbre.
The Italian BOCCALE and the Spanish ACUMBRE contain 4 foglietti, that is 5 pounds and 4 ounces, in all 64 ounces.
The FOGLIETTA contains 16 ounces, and the QUARTILLO the same. The barrel, 2048 ounces.
The Roman BOTTE contains eight barrels, boccali
The FANEGA, or QUINTAL, contains a hundred Spanish pounds, that is common pounds of 12 ounces.
SYNOPSIS OF THE MEASURES, IF FILLED WITH WATER OR WINE, HOW MUCH THEY WEIGH.
The CULEUS contains of water or wine 121 talents, li-
The Roman BUTT contains 10 talents 251; pounds
The CORUS contains 800 pounds, 9600 ounces.
The Spanish RUSLUM contains talents 61, pounds 820, ounces 9840.
The fourth part of the fanega is the AROBA; it contains pounds
The EPHI, BATH and METRETA, 80 pounds, 960 ounces.
The Greek cubic foot, pounds 90, ounces
The AMPHORA, or Roman cubic foot, pounds
The SATUM, pounds 26, ounces 320.
The cubic PALM of the Romans, pounds 37, ounces
The SCONTIUM, pounds 32, ounces 384.
The Roman MODIUS, pounds 26, ounces 320.
The Spanish CELEMIN, pounds 14, ounces 168.
The CONGIUS, or CRUS, pounds 10, ounces 120.
The GOMOR, or ASSARON, pounds 8, ounces 96.
The CHOENIX, pounds 6, ounces 80.
The Roman BOCCALE, pounds 5, ounces 64.
The CAB, or cubic palm of the Hebrews, pounds
The LOG, or SEXTARIUS, pounds 1, ounces 13.
The Roman FOGLIETTA, pounds 1, ounces 16.
The COTYLE and HEMINA, 10 ounces.
The ACETABULUM, ounces 2.
The CYATHUS, one ounce and a half.
The cubic DIGIT, 1.
III. Of measures of length.
The REED contains six cubits.
The CUBIT is a foot and a half, namely that length by which the cubit is extended from the bend of the arm to the end of the finger which is called the index, and it contains 24 digits, …or two spans, and is the fourth part of the stature of a man; for every rightly formed man has in stature 4 of his own cubits, and so great is he as is the expanse of his arms: for the arms, bent at the elbow and meeting each other at the index finger, make 4 cubits, which is the stature of each. Consequently, since a cubit is a foot and a half, it follows that each man, as he has 4 cubits, so has also 6 of his feet in stature.
So St. Jerome, Vitruvius, and others everywhere; Alcazar alone, prop. 9, contends by many arguments that the cubit in Holy Scripture is not the fourth but the sixth part of human stature, because he holds that by the name of cubit the hand is not comprehended, but only that principal bone extended from the wrist to the bend of the arm. And he adds that six cubits make a reed, and hence the reed is called the measure of a man, that is of human stature, Apoc. xxi, 17. Again, that this cubit is twofold: the first the ancient one of Adam and of those first great men, which contains 18⅔ Roman digits, and is almost equal to the Roman foot: for this contains precisely sixteen digits. The second is the later and lesser, which consists of 14⅔ Roman digits, and with this lesser one Holy Scripture measures the temple and the brazen sea. But I think we should not depart from the common opinion of all others.
The PALM, in Hebrew topach, is the space of 4 digits placed side by side.
Three palms make the extended palm, which is called the span.
The SPAN, in Hebrew zeret, is the space which lies between the thumb and the index finger when the hand is stretched out, and contains 12 digits across.
The PACE is a space of five feet.
Half a pace is the STEP, which contains two feet and a half.
The ROMAN FOOT contained four palms, that is sixteen Roman digits across; see its quantity expressed in Alcazar, lib. On Measures, p. 8.
The MILE is derived from a thousand paces, and contains eight stadia.
The STADIUM contains 125 paces, that is 750 feet.