59/63 So far only does it signify "change of posture." The notion of "falling _backward_" quite disappears in the notion of "reclining" or "lying down."'-- In St.John xxi. 20, the language of the Evangelist is the very mirror of his thought; which evidently passed directly from the moment when he assumed his place at the table ([Greek: anepesen]), to that later moment when ([Greek: epi to stethos autou]) he interrogated his Divine Master concerning Judas. It is a _general_ description of an incident,--for the details of which we have to refer to the circumstantial and authoritative narrative which went before. |