lim s. See Ps \i ms, B % oi .
I\. History of th Treatment of Hebrt ;' In
the 16th and 17th centuries the influence of classical studies upon the minds of the learned was so meat as to imbue them with the belie! that the writer- . and Rome wire the models of all excellence; and conse- quently, when their learning and critical acutm directed to the records of another literature, they were unable to divest themselves of the prejudices of early
education and habits, and sought for the same excel- lences which they admired in their favorite models. That this has been the case w ith n gard to most of the speculations on the poetrj of the Hebrews,and that the failure of those speculations is mainly due to this cause, will be abundantly manifest to any one who is ac- quainted with the literature of the subject But, how- ever barren of results, the history of the various theories which have been framed with regard to the external form of Hi bn n poetn is a necessary part of the pres- ent article.
'in of Hebrew poetry i- its distinguishing lie. and what this form is has been a \ exed question for many ages. The Therapeutas, as described by I'hilo (/), Vita Contempt, § 3, vol. ii. p. 175, ed. M mg hymns and psalms of thanksgiving to God, in divers measures and strains: and these were either new or ancient ones c posed by the old poets.
who had left behind them measures and lie'
trimeter ■ rional songs, ol hj mns, ol songs
sun- at tlie offering of libations or before tin- altar, and continuous choral son--, beautifully measured out in
POETRY
321
POETRY
strophes of intricate character (§ 10, p. 484). The value of Philo's testimony on this point may be estimated by another passage in his works, in which he claims for Moses a knowledge of numbers and geometry, the the- ory of rhythm, harmony, and metre, and the whole sci- ence of music, practical and theoretical (De Vita Mosis, i, 5, vol. ii, p. 84). The evidence of Josephus is as little to be relied upon. Both these writers labored to mag- nify the greatness of their own nation, and to show that in literature and philosophy the Greeks had been antic- ipated by the Hebrew barbarians. This idea pervades all their writings, and it must always be borne in mind as the key-note of their testimony on this as on other points. According to Josephus (.4 nt. ii, 16, 4), the Song of Moses at the Red Sea (Exod. xv) was composed in the hexameter measure (J v tZapirpito rovtp) ; and again (A nt. iv, 8, 44), the song in Deut. xxxii is described as a hexameter poem. The Psalms of David were in va- rious metres, some trimeters and some pentameters (Ant. vii, 12, 3). Eusebius (De Prcep. Evanrj. xi, 3, p. 514. ed. Col. 1688) characterizes the great Song of Moses and the 118th (119th) Psalm as metrical compositions in what the Greeks call the heroic metre. They are said to be hexameters of sixteen syllables. The other verse compositions of the Hebrews are said to be in tri- meters. This saying of Eusebius is attacked by Julian (Cyrill. Conlr. Jul. vii, 2), who on his part endeavored to prove the Hebrews devoid of all culture. Jerome (Prcef. in Mob) appeals to Philo, Josephus, Origen, and Eusebius, for proof that the Psalter, the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and almost all the songs of Scripture, are composed in metre, like the odes of Horace, Pindar. AI- ca?us, and Sappho. Again, he says that the book of Job from iii, 3 to xlii, 6 is in hexameters, with dactyls and spondees, and frequently, on account of the pecul- iarity of the Hebrew language, other feet which have not the same syllables but the same time. In Epist. ad Paulam (Opp. ii, 709, ed. Martianay) occurs a pas- sage which shows in some measure how far we are to understand literally the terms which Jerome has bor- rowed from the verse literature of Greece and Kome, and applied to the poetry of the Hebrews. The con- clusion seems inevitable that, these terms are employed simply to denote a general external resemblance, and by no means to indicate the existence among the poets of the Old Testament of a knowledge of the laws of metre, as we are accustomed to understand the term. There are, savs Jerome, four alphabetical Psalms, the 110th (111th), 111th (112th), H8th (119th), and the 144th (145th). In the first two, one letter corresponds to each clause or versicle. which is written in trimeter iambics. The others are in tetrameter iambics, like the -song in Deuteronomy. In Psa. cxviii (cxix) eight verses follow each letter: in Psa.cxliv (cxlv) a letter corresponds to a verse. In Lamentations we have four alphabetical acrostics, the first two of which are written in a kind of Sapphic metre; for three clauses which are connected together and begin with one letter (i. e. in the first clause) close with a period in heroic measure (fleroici comma). The third is written in trimeter, and the verses in threes each begin with the same letter. The fourth is like the first and second. The Proverbs end with an alphabetical poem in tetrameter iambics, be- ginning, "A virtuous woman who can find?" In the Prcef. in Chron. Euseb. Jerome compares the metres of the Psalms to those of Horace and Pindar, now running in iambics, now ringing with Alcaics, now swelling with Sapphics, now beginning with a half foot. What, he asks, is more beautiful than the song of Deuteron- omy and Isaiah? What more weighty than Solo- mon? What more perfect than Job? All these, as Josephus and Origen testify, are composed in hexam- eters and pentameters. There can be little doubt that these terms are mere generalities, and express no more than a certain rough resemblance, so that the songs of Moses and Isaiah may be designated hexam- eters and pentameters with as much propriety as the VIII.— X