The kinds of trumpets are wont to be variously distinguished. First, by reason of form. For they are either straight, or curved and bent. And so, “the lituus,” says Festus, “is a kind of curved trumpet [buccina], with which whoever has sounded is called a liticen.” Ovid: “Not the straight trumpet, not the curved horns of bronze.” [Non tuba directi, non aeris cornua flexi, Met. 1.98.] And Juvenal: “the horn-blower [cornicen], whether here he had sounded upon the straight bronze.” Secondly, by reason of material. For [they are made] either of horn, or of some metal — for instance, silver or bronze — or of both. Of the first kind there were formerly very many, whether they were the horns of oxen — as in Diodorus, κέρασι βοείοις ἐνσαλπίζειν [kerasi boeiois ensalpizein, “to sound the trumpet with ox-horns”] — or of rams, as Josephus (book 5, ch. 8) says Gideon’s soldiers had in their hands κριῶν κέρα[τα] [kriōn kerata, “rams’ horns”], or of other animals, as I shall say from Vegetius a little later. And these are most often called simply “horns” [cornua] — whence also “horn-blowers” [cornicines] are named — and “buccina,” whence “to sound the buccina” and “buccinator.” “Horns,” says Varro, “which are now made of bronze, then were made of ox-horn.” “Now within the walls the shepherd’s buccina sings softly,” says Propertius. And of these the use is not only in calling the cattle, but also in the night-watches among most of the cities and citadels of Germany, and for marking the hours. To the second kind belong those which in the Scriptures are called “beaten” [ductiles], Numbers 10:2, Psalm 97 — on which there are beautiful things, on that same Psalm, in D. Augustine, and on Psalm 32. To the same belong “the brazen and silver buccinae,” which Josephus (book 3, ch. 11) says were invented by Moses, and are called in Hebrew ἀσώσρα [asōsra — Josephus’s Graecized form], that is חצוצרה [chatsotserah, “trumpet”], Numbers 10, where the same matter is handed down at verses 2, 6, 9, and following. But the description of these, from their form and material, is read in the same Josephus in the same place; it runs thus: “In length it is a little short of a cubit; the tube is narrow, a little thicker than a flute [aulos], providing a width sufficient at the mouth for the reception of breath, ending in a bell [kōdōn] much like the [war-]trumpets.” [Βυκάνη μῆκος μὲν ἔχει πηχυαῖον ὀλίγῳ λεῖπον, στενὴ δὲ σῦριγξ αὐλοῦ βραχὺ παχυτέρα, παρέχουσα δὲ εὖρος ἀρκοῦν ἐπὶ τῷ στόματι πρὸς ὑποδοχὴν πνεύματος, εἰς κώδωνα ταῖς σάλπιγξι παραπλησίως τελῶν.] To the third [kind] pertains that verse of Propertius: “And he fashioned the querulous trumpets, hoarse through bones.” For in Artemidorus (book 1, ch. 58) a trumpet is composed of bronze and bone; and in Vegetius (book 3, ch. 5) a horn from wild oxen [uri] is bound with silver. Thirdly, by reason of use: some are of gathering [τῆς συλλογῆς] or of calling-together [ἀνακλήσεως] or of summoning [παρακλήσεως], others of breaking-camp [τῆς ἀναζεύξεως] — that is, some summoning, or sounding the call-to-arms [classicum], others signifying departure. For “the buccina compelled the men of old, the Quirites, to the assembly,” in Propertius; and “the call-to-arms sounded with the curved horn,” in Seneca’s Oedipus. And both uses you have in writing in Numbers 10, and in Josephus at the place cited. For when it was sounded with two trumpets, the whole multitude was summoned to the door of the tabernacle; when with one only, the princes alone. And thus it must be taken from the Hebrew and the Seventy, and likewise from Josephus (book 3, ch. 11), what our Interpreter there says at v. 3, “to sound the trumpets,” and at v. 4, “to sound once.” Again, some are warlike [bellicae], concerning which Numbers 10:9, 1 Corinthians 14:8; others funereal [funebres], concerning which Hyginus (fable 274), Propertius, Persius, Tertullian On the Soldier’s Crown. Others of ostentation and hypocrisy [the compressed Latin: ostent[atoriae], abundae & hypocritae], concerning which CHRIST the Lord [speaks], Matthew 6:2. And again, some profane, others sacred, among the Gentiles — concerning which Varro thus: “It is called Tubilustrum because on that day the trumpets of the sacred rites are purified [lustrantur]”; Festus: “the Armilustrum, a festival, in which armed men performed divine rites, and while they sacrificed, sounded the trumpets.” Calpurnius, in the Eclogues: “to sound the trumpets amid sacred rites, not amid wars.” So too, at the place cited, Artemidorus. But among the Jews, while burnt-offerings and sacrifices were offered — especially the Eucharistic [thank-offering], Numbers 10:10 — either ordinarily, as at the solemnities, Deuteronomy 16, verses 11 and 14; at the New Moons, Nehemiah 8:10, Isaiah 66:23; or extraordinarily, Psalms 47, 117; 1 Maccabees 4:59; at the dedication of Solomon’s temple, 2 Chronicles [Paralip.] 5, verses 12 and 13, ch. 7, verse 6; in the restoration of divine worship under Hezekiah [Ezechiana], the same book, ch. 29, verse 27; in the bringing-up of the ark, in this very Joshua ch. 6, and 1 Chronicles [Paralip.] 13, verse 8, ch. 15, verse 14. Nay, that the New Moons [Neomeniae] were wont to be announced by the blast of trumpets, Philo teaches in the book On the Ten Words [On the Decalogue], thus: “They signal the sacred new-moon festival with a trumpet.” [Τὴν ἱερομηνίαν σάλπιγγι ὑποσημαίνουσι.] Which is also wont to be handed down of the first day of the month Tishri — which in Leviticus 23 is called in the Hebrew “a memorial of the shout” [memoriale vociferationis], in the Seventy “a memorial,” or “the feast of trumpets”; and concerning the Jubilee year a clear precept is given, Leviticus 25, verse 9, where in Hebrew it is said once: “You shall cause the trumpet of the shout [jubilee-blast] to pass through in the [seventh] mon-…”
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…in the seventh [month]; and again [Leviticus 25:9]: “In the tenth of the month, on the day of ha[k]kippurim [the Atonement] or of propitiation, you shall cause the trumpet to pass through all your land.”
Fourthly, by reason of the men who blow the trumpets themselves. And thus they are either of slaves or of freemen, as in Artemidorus at the place cited and in Dio, book 57; and again, of either profane or sacred men — for instance, of priests. And thus by Suidas it is called σάλπιγξ ἱερατικὸν ὄργανον [salpinx hieratikon organon, “the trumpet, a priestly instrument”]. So by Eustathius (Iliad 10), by reason of those who either invented or used them, the trumpet is called Minervan, Egyptian, Gallic, Paphlagonian, Median, Tyrrhenian; and to these such kinds could be added — as the Mosaic trumpet, if Josephus is to be trusted (book 3, ch. 11), as seen above; and the Roman, Greek, German, and others.
Fifthly, by reason of sound, which is either glad or mournful — even, or else varied, broken, and clipped. And that [broken sound] is called among the Hebrews simply theka [תקע], as if you should say a fixed and least-varied sound; for תקע [taqaʿ] means “to fix.” But that broken sound is therouah [תרועה] — in Oleaster on Leviticus 25, and in Masius f. 104, “a crash.” For רוע [ruaʿ], as in voice so in signification, has a certain affinity with the verb רעע [raʿaʿ], which is “to break,” most common in the Chaldee tongue, as at Deuteronomy 28:33 — which makes it from the Hebrew רעע, substituting, in its usual manner, [one letter for another]. This same varied and broken sound the Seventy call (Numbers 10) a σημασία [sēmasia, “signal-blast”]; but the other, steady one, οὐ σημασίαν [“not a signal-blast”]. But our Interpreter renders the former, in the same place, “prolonged” and “clipped” at verse 5, and “howling” [ululatum] at verse 6; but the latter, at verse 1, a “simple blast” and “not brokenly howling.” I say, therefore:
1. That these seven priests’ trumpets were of the kind whose use was in the proclamation of the jubilee years, as was said above from Leviticus 25:9. For here in the Hebrew (vv. 4–5, ch. 13) they are called tuba haiobelim [היובלים]; and in the same v. 4, cornu haiobel [היובל] — concerning which again later, q. 5.
2. That they were sacred: first, because they were blown in a sacred matter — namely in the Jubilee year — and by the priests; then, because, although in this chapter the Seventy several times omit that [word] “of the Jubilee,” yet once they rendered it σάλπιγγας ἱερὰς [salpingas hieras, “sacred trumpets”] at v. 8.
3. That their blast on the several days and circuits is not expressly explained; but that after the last circuit the sound was longer and more clipped. For thus our translator renders v. 5, which in the Hebrew is v. 4: “And it shall be, in the prolonging on the horn of jubilee.” But what was that protraction and length of the blast? To some it seems to have consisted in a certain slowness of the notes. For thus they render: “when it shall sound drawn-out.” To others — as to Abulensis, after qq. 8, 10, 11 — in a length of time, namely that it should be sounded without interruption; and then, in the other circuits, it appears an interruption was frequently made, and almost one rule was observed, as the same Abulensis says. Others, in Masius f. 104, [make it] a middle and as it were mixed, tempered sound, from thecouah [תקועה] and therouah [תרועה]. The middle opinion pleases, especially since the Seventy said ἐντόνως σημαίνειν [entonōs sēmainein, “to signal with a sustained tone”].
[4. On the material.] But concerning the material of these same trumpets there is a small controversy. Isidore judges them to have been of bronze; Abulensis (qq. 7 and 8) of silver; Masius, Augustine Steuchus (on Numbers, last [chapter]), Ribera (book 5, On the Temple, ch. 24), and Cajetan, of horn. But whether of ram’s or of ox’s horn? Ox-horn is preferred by Masius, Ribera, Rutilius, Benzonius (book 1, On the Jubilee, ch. 4); ram’s-horn by the others cited, with whom I hold the same view. First: because expressly at v. 4, in Hebrew, it is קרן חיובל [keren ha-yobel], that is, “the horn of jubilee.” Secondly: because in some Greek [versions] — for example in Symmachus and in the Royal [Bibles] — the seven priests take up τὰς κερατίνας [tas keratinas, “the horn-trumpets”]. It is well enough known that from that Hebrew, and the Greek κέρας, and the Latin cornu, come the modern French corne, the ancient form in Eustathius (at the place cited) carnix [κάρνιξ], the Syriac קרנא [karna] (1 Thessalonians 4), and the German horn. Josephus (book 3, ch. 1) says the priests, having gone before the ark, [were] ἐπὶ τὰ κέρασιν αὐτῶν σαλπίζοντας [epi ta kerasin autōn salpizontas, “sounding upon their horns”]. Thirdly: because the Chaldee Paraphrast here (v. 6) renders it “trumpets of ram’s horn.” For [the Chaldee] makes it [so] from the Hebrew — at Exodus 29, Leviticus 15 — and here the noun דכר [dikra] and דיצא [Aramaic ram-words] stand for איל [ayil], i.e. “ram.” Fourthly: thus think nearly all the Rabbis. [Fifthly]: in the same way, Psalm 97, “with the voice of the horn-trumpet [tuba cornea].” Sixthly: because Abulensis’s two reasons are weak. (1) If these trumpets had been of horn, they would not have carried them with them from the wilderness, since there was nothing precious in them and they could have been made anywhere. (2) Because the war-trumpets of Numbers 10:9 are of silver — but these too are war-trumpets, since the city of Jericho was being assaulted. To the first: they could be carried from the wilderness, not because precious, but because once dedicated to sacred use; and they could also not be carried, but be prepared suddenly at Gilgal. To the second: it was indeed a war, but one waged rather in the manner of peace, as was said above, q. 2. Seventhly: against Masius there also avails the annual custom of ram’s-horn [trumpets] at the beginning of the month Tishri, of which it was also said before; for if they can be used every year, why not also in the Jubilees? Eighthly: there is no reason why the Talmudists should not be thought to have learned from the ancient Jews in what manner, and with what trumpets, the Jubilee years were wont to be announced. Ninthly: it is added that the same Talmudists hand down the causes of these horns — in the tractate On the Beginning of the Year [Rosh Hashanah], ch. 11, and more copiously in Bereshith Rabbah — [causes] which strengthen and increase Christian piety. For, first, since Isaac was freed by a ram from most imminent death (Genesis 22), they say the memory of this benefit is rightly repeated, not only every year, but especially in that year in which liberty is restored to men bound and fettered by servitude, and to lands and houses — in the year, I say, of Jubilee. Secondly, they teach that by the ram’s horns liberty was once to be given to the Israelites, and that the same is signified in the Jubilees. But what are these ram’s horns, but [the horns] of that Ram who was silent before the shearer (Isaiah 53), who took away the sin of the world (John 1), who with the two horns of the cross butted and laid Satan low? Tenthly: Ribera and Benzonius seem also to use this reasoning — that those horns would be too cheap for what ought to be employed in so great a solemnity of the Jubilee. But in sacred things it is not the excellence of the material but of the use that commends a thing, as Tully [Cicero] also noted in book 2 On the Laws. Finally, in Masius’s argument there is no force. “Ram’s horns,” he says, “are wholly solid; but a trumpet must be hollow, so that it can be blown.” Both these are true. But can things which are solid not be made hollow? Nay, they are made [so] daily; and that they were made [so] in Gideon’s time Josephus told us before, and the feast of trumpets confirms it. Let it stand, then, that these trumpets were of horn, from ram’s horns.
5. And this is the reason why our Interpreter calls them, in this chapter, “trumpets” [tubae] only twice, but “buccinae” very often — for although “buccina” seems to be the Greek βυκάνη [bykanē], yet this, as we saw above, is also of metal; and “tuba,” “lituus,” “buccina,” and “cornu” are not…
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…the names are rarely confused; yet more properly they [the “cornua”] are from the horn of a buccina, as Saint Jerome teaches on Hosea ch. 5, [and] Lipsius, book 4 On the [Roman] Militia, dialogue 10, and book 5, dialogue 9.