[Footnote 2: The accidental resemblances are curious. Thus, _Nebucadnetzar_
is in Russian _nebê kazenniy Tzar_, "A Lord or Prince appointed by heaven;"
or, _nebu godnoi_ _Tzar_, "A Prince fit for heaven." _Belshatzar_ is also
in Russian _bolszoi Tzar_, "A great Prince;" and _Belteshtzar_, Daniel's
Chaldean pagan name, is _byl têsh Tzar_, "he was also a Prince," _i. e._
"of the royal family."]
The interpretation of Hessius (_Geschichte der Patriarchen_, i. 83.) is
preferred by Rosenmüller:
"Ex hujus Doctissimi Viri sententia Lamechus _sese jactat_ propter
filios suos, qui artium adeo utilium essent inventores: Cainum
progenitorem suum propter cædem non esse punitum, multo minus se posse
puniri, si vel simile scelus commisisset. Verba enim non significant,
cædam ab eo revera esse paratam, sed sunt verba hominis admodum
insolentis et profani. Ceterum facile apparet, hæc verba a Mose ex
quodam carmine antiquo inserta esse: tota enim oratio poeticam quandam
sublimitatem spirat."
The sense of these two verses (Gen. iv. 23, 24.) is, according to Dathe:
"_Si propter viri aut juvenis cædem vulnera et plagæ mihi intendantur,
cum de Caino poena septuplex statuta fuerit, in Lamecho id fiet
septuagies septies._"
Herder, in his _Geist der ebräischen Poesie_ (i. 344.) says:
"Carmen hoc Lamechi laudes canere gladii a filio inventi, cujus usum et
præstantiam contra hostiles aliorum insultus his verbis prædicet:
_Lamechi mulieres audite sermonem meum, percipite dicta mea: Occido jam
virum, qui me vulneravit, juvenem, qui plagam mihi infligit. Si Cainus
septies ulciscendus, in Lamecho id fiet septuagies septies._"