Simeon Metaphrastes was bom of noble par- ents at Constantinople in the 10th century. He was well educated, and raised himself by his merit to very high trust under the reigns of Leo the Philosopher and his son Constantine Porph3-rogenitus. It is said that being sent by the emperor to Cyprus, a contrary wind carried his ship to the isle of Paphos. There he met an anchoret, who advised him to write the life of The- octista, a female saint of Lesbos, and he gradually ex- tended his work so that it included the lives of 120 saints. He died in 976 or 977. His 120 Lives of the Saints are to be found in Latin translations in Surius; the Greek is not extant. See Chalmers, Bior;. Diet. s. V, ; Darling, Cyclop. Bibliog. s. v.
Sim'eonite (Heb. collect, with the art. hash-Shi- moni', ''i^V'01ST^ ; Sept. Si)ju«w)'), a patronymic desig- nation of the descendants of Simeon (Numb, xxv, 14; xxvi, 14; 1 Chron. xxvii, 16).
Similitude ('rA'>21, a physical resemblance, 2 Chron. iv, 3; Dan. x, 16; fT^a^ri, a pattern, Psa. cvi, 20; cxliv, 12; nJI'Cri, a s/«//)f^. Numb, xii, 8; Deut. iv, 12, 15, 16; onoiunjg, of^ioiwfia, o/toiwffic;, similarity in general). The word is now chieflj' used in a figurative sense of a form of speech including the simple metaphor, or the extended comparison of various kinds, especially the two following of the latter.
1. The Allef/ory, a figure of speech, has been defined by bishop Marsh, in accordance with its etj-mology, as "a representation of one thing which is intended to ex- cite the representation of anotlier thing;" the first rep- resentation being consistent with itself, but requiring, or being capable of admitting, a moral and s[)iritual in- terpretation over and above its literal sense. An alle- gorj- has been incorrectly considered by some as a length- ened or sustained metaphor, or a continuation of meta- phors, as by Cicero, thus standing in the same relation to metaphor as parable to simile. But the two figures
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are quite distinct; no sustained metaphor, or succession of metapliors, can constitute an allejiory, and the inter- pretatiiMi of allegory differs from that of metaphor in iiavinj; to do not witli words, but tliiiij^s. In every allc- fjory tliere is a twofohl sense — the immediate i r historic, which is miderstood from the words, and the uUimate, which is concerned with the tliini;s signified by the words. The allegorical interpretation is not of the words, but of the things signilied by them ; and not only may. but actually does, coexist with the literal interpre- tation in every allegory, whether the narrative in which it is conveyed be of tilings possible or real. An illus- tration of tliis may be seen in Gal. iv. '24. where the apostle gives an allegorical interpretation to the histor- ical narrative of Ilagar and Sarah; not treating that narrative as an allegory in itself, as our A. Y. would lead us to suppose, but drawing from it a deeper sense than is conveyed by the immediate representation.
In pure allegory no direct reference is made to the principal object. Of this kind the parable of the prod- igal son is an example (Luke xv, 11-32). In mixed al- legory the allegorical narrative either contains some hint of its application, as Psa. Ixxx, or the allegory and its interpretation are combined, as in John xv, 1-8; but this last passage is, strictly speaking, an example of a metaphor.
The distinction between the parable and the allegory is laid down by dean Trench {On the Purables, eh. i) as one of form rather than of essence. " In the allegory," he says, "there is an interpretation of the thing signi- fying and the thing signilied, the (pialities and proper- ties of the tirst being attributed to the last, and the two thus blended together, instead of being kept quite dis- tinct and placed side by side, as is the case in the para- ble. According to this, there is no such thing as pure allegory as above defined. See Au^txiOUY.
2. The Parable, as a form of teaching, differs from the Fable, (I) in excluding brute or inanimate creatures pa.ssing out of the laws of their nature, and speaknig or acting like men ; (2) in its higher ethical signifi- cance. It differs, it may be added, from the Mythus in being the result of a conscious deliberate choice, not the growth of an unconscious realism, personifying attri- butes, appearing, no one knows how, in popular belief. It differs from the .\llegory in that the latter, with its direct personification of ideas or attributes, and the names which designate them, involves really no com- parison. The virtues and vices of mankind appear, as in a drama, in their own character antl costume. The allegory is self-interiireting. The parable demands at- tention, insight, sometimes an actual explanation. It differs, lastly-, from the I'roverb in that it must include a similitude of some kind, while the proverb may assert, without a similitude, some wide generalization of expe- rience. So far as proverbs go beyond this, and state what they affirm in a figurative form, they may be de- scribed as condensed parables, and paral)les as expanded proverbs (comp. Trench on J'anihle.i, ch. i; and Grotius on Afatt. riii). — Smith. See Pakabi.e.
Simla'i, Rahbl, a famous Jewish teacher of the 2d century, is known as the first who reduced all laws of Judaism to certain principles. Thus we read in the Talmud Habyl. Macroth, fol. 23, col. 2 scp : " I{. Simla'i said that Moses was instructed to give G13 injunctions to the people, viz. Sfi,") precepts of omission, correspond- ing to the days of the solar year, and 21H precepts of commission, corresponding to the members of the liu- man body. David reduced them all to eleven in the fifteenth I'salm: 'Lord, who shall abide in thy taber- nacle, who shall dwell on thy holy hillV He that walk- cth uiirightly,' etc. The prophet Isaiah reduced them to six (xxxiii, I.")): 'He that walketh righteously,' etc. The pro(iliet Micah reduceil them to three (vi, H): 'What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy <iod ?' laaiah, once more, reduced them to two (Ivi, 1) : ' Keep ye judgment and do justice.' Amos reiluced them all