Exposition of the Laws of Moses, Exegesis 8 · Chapter 29
CHAPTER XXIX. Of their numbring, and manner of counting.
PRO. 3.6. Wiſedome commeth with length of dayes in her right hand.
THey numbered of old three manner of wayes; firſt, by their fingers; ſecondly, by letters; and thirdly, by Ciphers.
Firſt, by their fingers, for as their firſt meaſure was their hand. Eſay 40.12. Who hath meaſured the waters with the hollow of his hand, and met out the heavens with his ſpan? So their firſt numbering was by their fingers; and Salomon alludeth to this forme, Pro. 3.6. Wiſedome cōmeth with length of dayes in her right hand. The Greeks called this foreign, becauſe they numbered upon their fiue fingers;Lib. 2. Faſt. ſo Ovidius,
Seu quia tot digitis per quos numerare Solemus.
So Invenal writing of Nestor;
—Sua dextra computat annos.
They numbered upon their ten fingers, becauſe no ſimple number can go beyond nine, and the tenth number is the complement of all ſimple numbers.
They numbered, firſt with their right hand upon the left, becauſe the right was the moſt fit hand for action, for the ſpirits lie in the right ſide of the heart, and ſo make the right hand more fit to doe any thing; and the bloud lieth more to the left ſide, and therefore the left hand is not ſo fit for action. Salomon ſaith, that the wiſe mans heart is at his right hand, Eccleſ. 10.2. the ſpirits enableth his hand more to doe; and the fooles is at his left hand, becauſe there are not ſo many ſpirits in the left ſide of the heart to quicken the hand; but when the ſpirits encline equally to both the ſides, then he is [Itter jad] ambidexter, foreign Ambidexter.that could uſe the left hand as well as the right; ſuch were the men of Benjamin and Ehud; it ſhould not be tranſlated left handed, Iudg. 3.15. but he who uſed both the hands.
They numbered upon the left hand from one to ninetie nine,Plinius. Lib. 44. and at an hundreth they began to turne to the right hand; therefore Ianus was ſet up at Rome, with the number of the dayes in the yeare upon his hands, having the great number upon his right hand, and the ſmall number upon his left.
The way how they numbered upon the left hand was this; when they counted one,Beda de ratione temporum. they laid the point of their little finger in the midſt of their palme;The manner of their counting from 10. to 100. when they counted 2, they laid the ring finger upon the palme of their hand, when they counted 3, they laid their middle finger upon the palme of their hand; when they counted 4, they lifted up their little finger from the palme of their hand, and they left other two fingers lie ſtill upon the palme of their hand; when they counted 5, they lifted up the ring-finger from the palme of their hand; and when 6, they lifted up the middle finger; when 7, they laid the point of their little finger about the middle of their hand; and when 8, the ring-finger about the middle of their hand; when 9, the middle finger about the middle of their hand; when 10, they laid the naile of their forefinger at the middle of the thumbe; when 20, they laid the naile of the forefinger betwixt the joynts of the thumbe; when 30.All numbers under an hundred were counted upon the left hand. they laid the naile of the forefinger and the naile of the thumbe together; when 40, they laid the thumbe upon the forefinger croſſe-wayes; when 50, they inclined the thumbe to the palme of the hand; when 60, they laid the top of the forefinger to the thumbe; when 70. they laid the naile of the thumbe to the top of the forefinger; when 80, they laid the naile of the thumbe betwixt the forefinger and middle finger; when 90. they laid the naile of the forefinger at the roote of the thumbe. Luk. 15.4. The Parable ſeemeth to allude to this forme of counting, he left ninetie and nine and ſought that one which was loſt.
All numbers from an hundred to a thouſand upon the right hand.Then they tranſferred the numbers from their left hand to the right hand, and they numbered hundreths upon the right hand, as they number ſimple numbers upon the left hand.
When they came to reckon 1000, they laid the palme of their left hand upon their breaſt, with their fingers ſpread; when 2000, they laid the backe of their left hand upon their breaſt with their fingers ſpread;All numbers from 1000 to 100000. they numbered with their left hand. when they numbered 30000, they laid the palme of their left hand upon their breaſt with their fingers upward; when they numbered 40000, they laid the backe of their left hand upon their breaſt, and their fingers downward; when 50000, they laid the palme of their left hand upon their navell, with their fingers upward; when 60000, they laid the backe of their hand upon their navell, with their fingers downward; when 70000, they laid the palme of their left hand upon their left thigh, with their fingers croſſewayes; when 80000, they laid the backe of their left hand upon their left thigh, with their fingers upward; when 90000, they laid the palme of their left hand upon their left thigh, with their fingers downward; ſo that the hand was laid twice up and twice downe, backward and forward upon their breaſt, navell, and thigh, therefore Plautus ſaith, Ecce autem avertit nixus laeva, in femore habet manum, dextra digitis rationem computat feriens femur, that is, he turneth his left hand from his left thigh, & is come with his right to ſmite upon his right thigh, to ſignifie an exceeding great number.
When they came to 100000,After 100000. they counted the ſame way with their right hand. they counted with their right hand upon their belly, navell, and thigh, as they did before untill they came to 10000000.
The Hebrewes, Greekes, and Latines, counted likewiſe by the letters of their Alphabet;M. Mille. D. Dimidium mille. X. Becauſe it conſiſteth of two VV. V. Becauſe it ſtandeth in the fift place amongſt the Vowels. the Hebrewes and Greekes numbered by all the letters of the Alphabet; but the Latines had onelyonly ſixe by which they counted, M.D.C.X.V.I. M. for 1000. D. for 500. C. for 100. X. for 10. and I. for 1.
Afterwards they numbered by Ciphers, which were but lately found out: The Turkes learned it from the Arabians; we from the Turkes; and it commeth from the Hebrew word [Saphar] numerare; in the Arabicke, foreign Numerare.Siphra est privatio, that is, a figure in the number which ſignifieth nothing by it ſelfe.
The Ancients did not onelyonly number with their fingers, but alſo ſpeake with them; unto which Salomon alludeth, Pro. 6.13.Alluſion. In tarentilla. The wicked man he ſpeaketh with his fingers; therefore Naevius ſaith, Alij dat annulum, alium invocat, cum que alio cantat, alijs deni que dat digito literas; Loqui digitis quid.He giues a ring to one, he calls upon another, he ſings with another, and to others he giues letters by his fingers, that is, he mixeth his ſpeeches with others by poynting out Letters with his fingers.Beda libello de indigitatione. Beda in his Booke de indigitatione, ſets downe the manner how they ſpake with their fingers, after he hath ſet downe the manner how they counted with them, for he ſaith, De ipſo computo quaedam manualis loquela figurari poteſt, quâ literis quis ſigillatim expreſsis, verba quae eiſdē literis contineantur, alteri qui hanc quo que noverit induſtriam tametſi longè poſito legenda & intelligenda contradat: that is, out of the ſame numbering there may be drawne out a certaine ſpeaking by the hands, which a man may deliver to another who ſtands a farre off, who hath the ſame skill both to read and underſtand, and this is by Letters expreſſed ſeverally, and the whole words are contained in theſe Letters. So that the ſame way a man counts with his fingers, that ſame way doth he ſpeake with his fingers, for the firſt number upon the hand, poynteth out the firſt Letter, the ſecond number the ſecond Letter, and ſo to the end of the Alphabet, and the man that had the beſt dexteritie did joyne the Letters together, and made up a word or phraſe, which onelyonly he and the ſpeaker underſtood.
Concluſion. They reckoned their numbers upon their fingers: when we looke upon our fingers, we ſhould learne to number our dayes; Wiſedome biddeth us binde her precepts to our fingers, Prov. 7.3. Alluding to their Phylacteries which they had upon their Armes; ſo ſhould we put thoſe numbers upon our hands, and continually make uſe of them for the ſhortneſſe of our life.