Limits

LIMITS, Bounds. Moses forbids any one’s touching the Bounds of his Neighbour’s Inheritance. Thou shalt not remove Deut. xix. 14.thy Neighbour’s Land-Mark which they of old Time have set on thine Inheritance which thou dost inherit, &c. All the People curse the Man who should remove the Bounds planted by their Ancestors. Job reckons those who are guilty of this Crime among Thieves and Robbers, and Oppressors of the Poor. Boundaries are sacred Things, and Matters of publick Right. Siculus Flaccus de conditionib. agrorum says, that when they were settled, they were anointed and crowned, and covered with rich Veils: Unguento velaminibusque & coronis eos coronabant. The Jewish Doctors condemn those who transfer their Neighbour’s Bounds to be scourged twice, first because of stealing another’s Inheritance, and secondly by Reason of the Violation of the Law, which expresly forbids touching it.

Joseph. Antiq. l. iv. c. 8.Josephus has interpreted this Law of Moses in a very particular Sense. “ He “ says, that it is not lawful to change the “ Limits, either of the Land belonging to “ the Israelites, or that of their Neighbours, with whom they are at Peace; “ but that they ought to be left as they “ are, having been so placed by the Order “ of God himself: For the Desire which “ avaritious Men have to extend their Limits, is the Occasion of War and Division; and whosoever is capable of removing the Boundaries of Lands, is not far “ from a Disposition to violate all other “ Laws.

Among the Romans¹, if a Slave of his own Head, and with an evil Design, changed any Boundary, he was punished with Death. Men of Condition were sometimes banished, and private Persons were punished according to the Circumstances of the Crime, by pecuniary Fines, or corporal Punishments. The Respect which the Ancients had for Boundaries proceded almost to Adoration. Numa Pompilius, King of the Romans ordained, that Offerings should be made to Boundaries, with thick Milk, Cakes, and First-Fruits. Ovid says, that a Lamb was sacrificed to them, and that they were sprinkled with Blood.

Juvenal speaks of Cake and Pap, which were laid every Year upon the sacred Bounds.

The Limits of the Sea. The Scripture often reckons it among the Effects of God’s Omnipotency, to have fixed Bounds to the Sea: Thou hast set a Bound that they may not pass over, neither turn again to cover the Earth. And Job: He hath compassed the Waters with Bounds until the Day and Night come to an End. And Solomon introduces Wisdom, saying, When he gave to the Sea his Decree, that the Waters should not pass his Commandments; when he appointed the Foundation of the Earth, then I was by him. And in Jeremiah, the Lord says, that he has made the Sands to be a Boundary to the Sea: Posui arenam terminum Mari.

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