QUEST. XII. Whether the third plague was of lice.
NOw what manner of plague this was, whether of lice or some other, shall briefely bee examined: 1. The Hebrew word is cinnim, which the Latine translateth sciniphes, and the Septuag. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 deri∣ved with some small change from the Hebrew:*Origen whom Augustine followeth, taketh them for cer∣taine small flies with wings that can scarse bee seene as they flie, yet with their stings doe pricke very sharpely. 2. Alber•us Magnus saith, that they have the taile of wormes, the head and wings of flies, and are ingendred in fenny places, and doe specially follow and light upon men, Lib. 26. de animalib. this descrip∣tion agreeth to those flies which we call gnats. 3. Suidas taketh it to be a worme that eateth wood. 4. Pe∣rerius thinketh it was a new kinde of vermine not knowne before. 5. But I thinke rather with Iosephus, that they were lice; so also Iun. Vatab. Pagnin. Montan. translate: so R. Salomon understandeth the word cinnim: and they were such lice as did cleave and swarme upon the body, that would not be killed with any oyntment, or other medicine, as Iosephus, but they did gnaw upon their flesh, much like to the lowsie disease, that Sylla and the two Herods died of. Simler. And Philo saith, they did not only sting the flesh, but entred in at the eares and nostrils, and pained the eyes: and though most of them were of this kinde of vermine, of lice, which came of the slime and dust, resembling the same in colour also; Oleaster: yet it is like that other vermine, as gnats, and other biting flies and vermine were mingled among them. Borrh.