EQUIVOKES 
 
 
  Equity   (Father of), Heneage   Finch, 
earl of Nottingham (1621-1682). In Absa- 
lom and Achitophel (by Dryden and Tate). 
he is called "Amri." 
Sincere was Amri, and not only knew, 
But Israel's sanctions into practice drew; 
Our laws, that did a boundless ocean seem, 
Were coasted all, and fathomed all by him . . . 
To him the double blessing doth belong, 
With Moses' inspiration, Aaron's tongue. 
            Absalom and Achitophel, ii. (1682). 
  Equivokes. 
  1. HENRY IV. was told that "he should 
not die but in Jerusalem," which he sup- 
posed meant the Holy Land; but he died 
in the Jerusalem Chamber, London, which 
is  the  chapter-house  of  Westminster 
Abbey. 
  2. POPE SYLVESTER was also told that he 
should die at Jerusalem, and he died while 
saying mass in a church so called at 
Rome. 
  3. CAMBYSES, son of Cyrus, was told that 
he should die in Ecbat'ana, which he sup- 
posed meant the capital of Media. Being 
wounded accidentally in Syria, he asked 
the name of the place; and being told it 
was Ecbatana, "Here, then, I am destined 
to end my life." 
  4. A Messenian seer, being sent to con- 
sult the Delphic oracle respecting the 
issue of the Messenian war, then raging, 
received for reply: 
When the goat stoops to drink of the Neda, 0, 
  seer, 
From Messenia flee, for its ruin is near! 
  In order to avert this calamity, all goats 
were diligently chased from the banks of 
.the Neda. One day, Theoclos observed a 
fig tree growing on the river-side, and its 
branches dipped into the stream.    The 
interpretation of the oracle flashed across 
his mind, for he remembered that goat and 
fig tree, in the Messenian dialect were the 
same word. 
 
 
  *** The pun would be clearer to an 
English reader if "a stork" were substi- 
tuted for the goat: "When a stork stoops 
to drink of the Neda; " and the "stalk" 
of the fig tree dipping into the stream. 
  5. When the allied Greeks demanded of 
the Delphic oracle what would be the 
issue of the battle of Salamis, they re- 
ceived for answer: 
Seed-time and harvest, weeping sires shall tell 
How thousands fought at Salamis and fell; 
but whether the oracle referred to the 
Greeks or Persians who were to fall by 
"thousands," was not stated. 
  6. When CRusus demanded what would 
be the issue of the battle against the Per- 
sians, headed by Cyrus, the answer was, 
he "should behold a mighty empire over- 
thrown;" but whether that empire was 
his own, or that of Cyrus, only the actual 
issue of the fight could determine. 
  7. Similarly, when PnHILP of Macedon 
sent to Delphi to inquire if his Persian 
expedition would prove successful, he 
received for reply, " The ready victim 
crowned for sacrifice stands before the 
altar." Philip took it for granted that the 
"ready victim" was the king of Persia, 
but it was himself. 
  8. TARQUIN sent to Delphi to learn the 
fate of his struggle with the Romans for 
the recovery of his throne, and was told, 
"Tarquin will never fall till a dog speaks 
with the voice of a man."    The "dog" 
was Junius Brutus, who was called a dog 
by way of contempt. 
  9. When the oracle was asked who 
would succeed Tarquin, it replied, "He who 
shall first kiss his mother." Whereupon 
Junius Brutus fell to the earth, and ex- 
claimed, "Thus, then, I kiss thee, 0 mother 
earth !" 
  10. Jourdain, the wizard, told the duke 
of Somerset, if he wished to live, to 
 
 
EQUITY 
 
 
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