Several of the Proverbs, which relate to human conduct and the affairs of life, are not delivered as universal truths, but as true in general, true upon the whole, though some exceptions may possibly be discovered; and some only convey a remark upon the fortunes and characters of men, unaccompanied either with praise or censure, such as a penetrating mind would form from a close inspection of the dispositions and transactions of mankind. Since we are by nature social beings, and must live in a state of social union, it is important to become acquainted with the winding recesses of the human heart; the follies, passions, and prejudices which agitate the species; the common events which happen in an intercourse with the world; the modes, times, and circumstances which modify the conduct: and Solomon occasionally notices such of these as are most useful to be impressed upon the minds of the young and unsuspi, cious. The world with its inhabitants, and the various occurrences of life, are spread before the view of the wise Monarch; with piercing eye he glances at the ever-changing prospect; sometimes pointing out

præstantissima, ex profundis quidem sapientiæ penetralibus scaturientia, atque in amplissimum varietatis campum excurrentia."-Lord Bacon, de Augment. Scient. lib. viii. cap. 2.

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scenes, which, though deserving of praise, he praises net; sometimes indicating events and circumstances really reprehensible, which, nevertheless, he does not condemn. He seems to have thought it sufficient to mark them out to the attention of the reader, who might draw the proper inference without being guided by the censure or eulogium of another.

Some of the truths in this noble collection are conveyed under the veil of allegory, apologue, and ænigma, as was usual in the earlier ages of antiquity. Those who aspired to the character of wise men used to communicate the result of their reflections under the cover of fable, parable, and ænigmatical expressions; either supposing that the difficulty of discovering the meaning would enhance its value ;* or that such a vehicle of truth was the best means of awakening the attention, and convincing the understandings of their contemporaries. Thus the queen of Sheba came to prove Solomon with hard questions; and, according to Josephus, that Monarch and Hiram, king of Tyre, mutually transmitted riddles

Θρασεια γαρ ουσα η ανθρωπινη ψυχη, τα μεν εν ποσιν ήσσον τιμα, του δε αποντος θαυμαστικώς εχει.-Max. Tyrii Diss. 29, p. 349, Oxon. 1677.

to each other for the exercise of their sagacity.* This, also, was a practice familiar to the ancient Greeks, for Plutarch represents the seven Wise Men entertaining themselves with proposing and solving allegorical and ænigmatical questions; and Maximus Tyrius affirms, that ænigmas abound both among the poets and philosophers.† The Egyptian priests involved their doctrine in such obscure symbolical language, as to be unintelligible except to the initiated. The Orientals, indulging in tropes and figures to a boundless extent, were particularly fond of symbolical and ænigmatical language, which both delighted their imaginations, and exercised their ingenuity.§ No wonder, then, that Solomon, in compliance with established custom, sometimes veiled his instructions under an apologue, a symbol, or an ænigma; but he uses them with a sparing hand, proposing his maxims, for the most part, without any thing ænigmatical, in his own terse and nervous phraseology.

Josephus, Antiq. lib. viii. cap. 5, § 3. See note to ch. i. 6.

+ Plutarchi Convivium septem Sapientum, vol. vi. p. 553, ed. Reiske. Max. Tyrii Diss. 29, p. 348. Пlavта μɛorа AIVIYμATWY KAI παρα ποιηταις και φιλοσοφοις.

Jablonski Pantheon Ægypt. Prolegom. § 57. The subject of the above paragraph is learnedly discussed in these Prolegom. § 48-61. D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, voc. Algaz.

|| Ο μεν γαρ Σολομων, θεοδωρητω σοφία κινουμενος, πασαν

The lessons of piety and virtue, inculcated with so much elegance in the Proverbs, are enforced on the principles of the Mosaic Law, which promises temporal rewards to obedience, and temporal punishment to disobedience. The author undoubtedly had a notion, however obscure, of a future state, for there are some clear intimations of another stage of

αυτού την γραφην, επ' ωφελεια και σωτηρια ψυχων, τω της θεοσεβειας ανετίθει λόγω. γυμνασιου δ' ενεκα της των εντυγχανοντων διανοιας, σκοτεινοις έχρητο προβλημασι, και λογων στροφαις, και φοναις δι' αινιγμάτων προενηνεγμενοις.-(Eusebius contra Marcellum, lib. i. cap. 3, p. 17, C.) In speaking of the ænigmatical style, the expression does not exactly correspond with the signification that the word Ænigma now commonly bears: it denotes every kind of dark saying, whether it be by symbolical, allegorical, or obscurely figurative language. When the meaning is not plainly expressed, but conveyed in an allusion, in an obscure metaphor, under a remote image, or by means of a symbol, it comes under the denomination of ænigmatical. D'Herbelot, in mentioning the Oriental ænigmnas, observes: "Il faut remarquer que la plûpart de ces Enigmes ne sont que des emblemes et des devises, que les Arabes, les Persans, et les Turcs comprennent sous les noms d'Algaz et de Maama.”—(Bibliotheque Orientale, ibid.) Burnet also remarks: "Hæc vox ænigma et ænigmaticum, late sumitur, pro sermone obscuro, involucris et ambagibus tegente rem quam designat, vel materiam quam tractat; sive sit per modum quæstionis, mandati, aut orationis simplicis. Id enim Græcis est αινιττεσθαι, res sibi notas obscuris dictis significare; quod plures dicendi modos complecti potest. Denique apud Hebræos n et n'♬ proverbia et œnigmata, omnes partis sapientis explere videntur; quod sententiose dictum est, scite graviturque, bwn appellatur; quod mystice autem, ut solet doctrina arcana, ¡7', dicitur."—(Archæolog. Philosoph, lib. i. cap. 8, p. 123.) This distinction of the Hebrew words, however, is not always observed. See the note on " dark sayings" ch, i, 6.

being; but he nowhere employs it as the sanction of his precepts. A steady adherence to the dictates of sound wisdom he pronounces to be the way which leads to health, long life, and happiness; while the paths of wickedness and folly tend only to misery and destruction. He never enforces his doctrines and admonitions by the hopes of immortal glory, or the fears of eternal vengeance; the promised rewards and punishments are strictly confined to this life; but they are such motives as would operate powerfully upon the mind of a Jew, who believed in the temporal remuneration set forth in the Law of Moses.

While God continued to exercise an extraordinary superintending providence over the Israelites, the promises of temporal rewards and punishments, annexed to obedience and disobedience, were, doubtless, abundantly fulfilled. It has even been asserted, that if they were not uniformly made good, Moses must, in a very few years, have stood convicted of palpable imposture: and, if such had been the case, the republic which he founded must soon have fallen to pieces; for its laws would be peculiarly liable

Prov. ch. xii. 28, xiv. 32, xv. 11, xxi. 16, and perhaps xv. 24. Compare Eccles. iii. 21, xii. 7.