(a) In our Dealings with Women
VII. 23. All this have I tried with understanding; I was minded to acquire wisdom, but it remained far from me. 24. Far off is that which is,[288] and deep, deep; who can fathom it?
25. I turned away, and my heart was bent upon understanding, sifting, and seeking the outgrowth of wisdom and knowledge, madness, and folly. 26. Whereupon I found that more bitter than death is woman—that snare whose heart is a net, whose arms are fetters: the God-favoured shall escape her, but the sinner shall be entangled by her.
27. Lo, this have I found, saith the Speaker, piecing one thing with another in order to discover a result: 28. What my soul hath ever sought for, yet never fallen upon, is this: I have discovered one man, among thousands; and of all these there was not one single woman. 29. Behold, this only have I found: that God made men upright, but they go in search of many wiles.
(b) In our Relations to the Monarch
VIII.1. A man's wisdom brightens up his countenance.
And transforms the coarse rancour of his face.
2. The wise man hearkens to the king's command,
By reason of the oath to God.
3. Steer clear of evil causes![289]
For he[290] doeth even what he listeth.
4. Mighty is the word of the monarch;
Who dares ask him: "What dost thou?"[291]
X.2. The wise man's heart straineth to the right,
The heart of the fool to the left.
3. Even out of doors he lacketh sense,
Saying unto every one: "I am a fool."[292]
4. Though the wrath of the ruler should swell against thee, yet forsake not thy post. For composure avoids grave mistakes.
5. There is an evil which I beheld under the sun, like unto a blunder, proceeding from the ruler!
6. Folly is set in high places,
The great ones must sit low down;
7. Slaves have I beheld on horseback,
And princes trudging on foot.
(c) In the Conditions of Everyday Life
X. 8. He that diggeth a pit may fall into it; him who breaketh down walls a serpent may sting. 9. Whoso removeth stones may be hurt therewith; he who cleaveth wood may be endangered thereby.
10. If the axe be blunt it demands more strength:[293]
Only through intelligence doth exertion avail.
11. If the serpent bites before the spell,
Then bootless is the charmer's art.
12. Speech from the wise man's mouth is grace,
The lips of a fool swallow him up;
13. The first words of his mouth are folly.
And the end of his talk rank madness.
II.15. For in self-conceit babbles the fool,[294]
X.14_a_. The silly man multiplieth his words;
15. The fussiness of the fool jadeth him.
Who knows not yet the way citywards.[295]
Exhortation to enjoy Life
X. 14_b_. Man knoweth not what shall come to pass, and who can tell him IX. 3. during his life, what shall befall after his death? Afterwards they go down to the[296] [dead, and there none can tell him aught nor can he apprehend anything. Even could he take it in, it would avail him nothing, for in Sheol there is no participation in life]. 4. For whosoever may enrol himself in the company of all the living, can rest content, seeing that a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5. For the living know at least that they shall die, whereas the dead know not anything at all, neither have they any more a reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. 6. As well their love as their hatred and jealousy has long since passed away, neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun.
7. Go, eat thy bread with joy, And quaff thy wine with merry heart.
For God hath countenanced beforehand this thy doing. 8. Let thy garments be always white and let thy head lack not ointment. 9. See life with a woman whom thou lovest throughout all the days of thy empty existence which he hath given thee under the sun, during all thy vain days! For that is thy portion in life[297] and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do that with thy might. For there is no work, nor cogitation, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the Sheol[298] whither thou goest. XI. 7. But sweet is the light and pleasant it is for the eyes to gaze upon the sun. 8. For how many years soever a man may live, he should enjoy himself during them all, and bear in mind the days of darkness that they shall be many. Everything that is to come, is vain.
9. Rejoice, young man, in thy youth![299]
And let thy heart make thee glad!
And walk in the ways of thine heart,
And according to the seeing of thine eyes!
10a. Drive sorrow from thy heart;
And put away care from thy flesh!
XII.1a. And bethink thee of thy fountain,[300]
In the days of thy youth!
XI. 10b. For youth and dawn are fleeting.
XII.1b. Dreary days are drawing near,
And years approach devoid of joy.
2. Then darkened shall be sun and moon,
And clouds come after rain alway.
3. The keepers of the house[301] shall quake,
The sturdy ones[302] shall bend themselves;
Darksome shall the windows[303] be,
4. And closed shall be the portals.[304]
The roar of the mill[305] shall be as the sparrows twitter,
The daughters of song[306] shall bow low;
5. Likewise of heights shall they be afraid,
For dread shall lie in wait.
3. The grinding maids[307] shall leave off work,
5. The almond-tree[308] shall shed its blooms;
The grasshopper[309] shall be burdened,
And the caperberry[310] unavailing.
For man goeth to his everlasting home and the mourners are in readiness in the street.
6. Asunder snaps the silver chain;
Shivered is the golden lamp;
The pitcher shattered at the brook;
The scoopwheel falls into the well.
8. O Vanity of Vanities, saith the Speaker; all is vanity![311]
Footnotes:
[254] For the convenience of the reader I give the chapters and verses as
they are in the ordinary Hebrew Bible, so that they can be found
at once in the Authorised Version. The letter a after the
verse number indicates the first half of that verse, the letter
b the second half.
[255] The meaning is almost the opposite of that of the Authorised
Version. Eye and ear are wearied and bewildered by the incessant
whirl of the vast machinery of the universe. Cf.
Schopenhauer, ed. Grisebach, vol. v. p. 295, § 144. The metre of
the strophe is identical with that of the "Poem of Job."
[256] It is interesting and instructive to compare this with the
identical doctrine of Buddha, as set forth in the canonical book,
"Samyuttaka-Nikayo," vol. i. vii., 2 P, 2 Suttam. It is
accessible to most readers in the admirable German translation of
Dr. K. E. Neumann, Leiden, 1892. Pp. 156, 157.
[257] The Authorised Version has "shall not be satisfied with silver." The meaning is that he who loves silver shall not enjoy the good things it can purchase.
[258] I.e., The care and anxiety which accompany the possession of wealth. The Authorised Version has: "The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep." The Hebrew word saba' can signify both wealth and repletion. Here it manifestly means the former; but some well-intentioned person whose ideas of physiology were defective, having taken it to mean repletion, confirmed his view by interpolating the words: "whether he eat little or much."
[259] Here a portion of the original text has been lost, as is evident from the passage beginning "What profit," two sentences lower down, which sums up the troubles of the rich man and makes them consist not merely in the loss of what he actually possessed, but likewise in the hardships and privations which he endured in order to produce his wealth. I give in brackets the words which Professor Bickell conjecturally supplies in lieu of the lost passage.
[260] And therefore extremely doubtful. When Koheleth wishes to express the idea of inexorable law, or Fate, he has recourse to the notion of God.
[261] It is only on earth that one can hope for some approximation to happiness. If we fail to obtain it here—and the odds are very much against us—there is no hereafter to look forward to; for we all—the miserable as well as the fortunate—are drifting steadily into one place—the dreary Sheol, where there is no pleasure, no striving, no life.
[262] I.e., not merely, as commentators generally suppose, that desire is not satiated; but that the enjoyment for the sake of which alone we desire life, and toil to sustain it, is never attained. The aim of labour is enjoyment, without which existence is a burden; but the real result of it all is the mere support of life without its redeeming pleasures. Cf. Schopenhauer, vol. v. pp. 300, 301.
[263] That is to say, is a very uncertain outlook.
[264] This is a remarkable sentence, which, if it could be supposed to be the fruit of the writer's own speculations, would entitle him to a high place in the Pantheon of speculative philosophers. This proposition, which underlies all Buddhistic doctrines, would be formulated by Kant or Schopenhauer somewhat as follows: Time, space, and causality are given to man as the a priori conditions of all thought; they are the stuff his mind is made of. As they are likewise the three ingredients of which the universe is composed, it follows that the world is the web of his own intellect, and, in so far as it is knowable, exists for the intellect alone. That which underlies all the shadows of existence, the one eternal force or will, he never beholds.
[265] Schopenhauer would express it thus: Our sources of knowledge—inner and outer observation—are identical with those of animals, the difference consisting in that faculty of imparting to our intuitions the form of abstract ideas.
[266] That is to say, is highly uncertain; for, as we learn in the following lines, happiness and misery depend upon chance or luck. God gives his favourites an agreeable life, leaving the drudgery to all the rest. And his choice is not determined by any ethical acts of man.
[267] "Sinner" is not the correct translation of the Hebrew word khôte here; otherwise the author could not say that this too (i.e., the punishment of the sinner) is vanity.
[268] The Jews frequently give to piety and morality the name of wisdom.
[269] The sense of this passage, which has become proverbial, is generally misunderstood. What it means is that man's work, be he never so skilful, be it never so easy, is absolutely dependent for success upon conditions which are wholly beyond his control, and that undertaken under any other conditions is inevitably doomed to failure.
[270] Here Professor Bickell supplies the words: "Against this no man can strive."
[271] The utmost that physical science can teach us is the where, the when and the why of the appearance of the forces of nature. The what remains for ever a mystery.
[272] Wisdom here is taken to mean the one eternal reality which underlies the shadowy appearances that we see and know. The same use of the word and exactly the same thesis occur in Job. (Cf. A.V. Job xxviii. 21, 22.)
[273] He cannot answer even for his own sentiments, completely though
they may seem to be under his sway.
[274] I.e., without ethical distinctions between the good and the
bad.
[275] It is curious to note that a comparison strikingly similar to this occurs in the ancient Indian collection of fables entitled "Pantschatantra." (Ed. Kosegarten, p. 105.)
[276] Literally: tyrannical.
[277] This line is no longer found in the Hebrew or Greek texts. It is required, however, by the sense and metre, and is inserted by Professor Bickell.
[278] Here the Hebrew text contains a play of words which cannot be
reproduced in English.
[279] "Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall." ("Measure for
Measure.")
[280] I.e., for mankind.
[281] Here a portion of the text is evidently lost. Professor Bickell suggests that it ran somewhat as follows: "Who received him with applause and reviled the old king. For inasmuch as he had spurned the counsel of the wise, in order to misgovern and grind down the people, therefore they hated him as those had hated him" who were before them.
[282] As an antidote to the so-called "piety" founded upon the scrupulous observance of the law, which had become a very Upas tree of self-complacency. Mankind is already encompassed by so many and such terrible evils, that it would be sheer madness to turn religion into a means of multiplying them.
[283] Another passage is wanting here, which most probably was to the effect that they know not that God asks no sacrifices at their hands but only works of justice; and that therefore they take courage "to work evil."
[284] Various commentators have offered various explanations of this obscure passage. As none of them is convincing, I prefer to leave them unnoticed. It is not impossible that it may contain an allusion to some popular tale or fable, analogous to that of the man who called upon death in his despair, and when the grim visitor made his appearance, asked him merely to help him to carry his burden.
[285] Professor Bickell supposes that here some words have fallen out, such as: "Brood not over that which is too marvellous and too lofty for thee, neither say of the dreams of thy heart and the babbling of thy lips, 'I have found the knowledge of the Holy One.'"
[286] This passage is a bitterly ironical onslaught on bureaucracy.
[287] This distich is rhymed in Hebrew.
[288] What Kant would call das Ding an sich. Everything we see and know is but appearance. The underlying substance, "that which is," is unknowable.
[289] Political plots.
[290] I.e., the king.
[291] Ironical.
[292] By his unconsidered acts.
[293] Literally, "it must be the more lustily wielded."
[294] This line is found only in the Septuagint.
[295] Probably a proverbial way of saying that a man knows nothing.
[296] The words in brackets are supplied conjecturally by Professor
Bickell.
[297] The Authorised Version has "in this life." But it deviates from the
Hebrew original.
[298] The nether world where the dead are but shadows.
[299] This and the following quatrain are rhymed in the original; as is also the preceding distich.
[300] Thy wife.
[301] The arms.
[302] The legs.
[303] The eyes.
[304] The ears.
[305] The voice.
[306] The tones.
[307] The teeth.
[308] The white hair.
[309] Fascinum.
[310] [Greek: Kreis].
[311] The epilogue forms no part of the original text.
* * * * *
THE SAYINGS OF AGUR
TRANSLATION OF THE RESTORED TEXT
* * * * *
THE SAYINGS OF AGUR
FIRST SAYING
On God
I
Sentence of the man who has worried himself about God:
I have worried myself about God and succeeded not;
For I am more stupid than other men,
And in me there is no human understanding.
Neither have I learned wisdom,
So that I might comprehend the science of sacred things.
II
Who has ascended into heaven and come down again?
Who can gather the wind in his fists?
Who can bind the waters in a garment?
Who can grasp all the ends of the earth?
Such an one would I question about God: What is his name?
And what is the name of his sons, if thou knowest it?[312]
SECOND SAYING
On Four Insatiable Things
There be three things which are never satisfied,
Yea, four exclaim: "It is not enough!"
The Ghoul hath two daughters:
"Give, give!"—the grave and the womb.[313]
The earth is not filled with water,
And the fire sayeth not, "It is enough!"
THIRD SAYING OF AGUR
On Four Inscrutable Things
There be three things too wonderful for me,
Yea, four which I fathom not:
The way of the eagle in the air,
The way of the serpent upon a rock,
The way of a ship amidst the ocean,
And the way of a man with a maid.[314]
FOURTH SAYING
Four Insupportable Things
Under three things the earth quakes,
And under four it cannot stand.
Under a slave when he seeks to reign,
And under a fool when he is filled with meat;
Under an odious woman when she gets a husband,
And under a handmaid who is heir to her mistress.[315]
FIFTH SAYING
Four who stride majestically
There be three things which go well,
Yea, four are comely in going:
A lion—the hero among beasts,
Who turneth not aside for any one;
A greyhound and a bell-goat,
And a king who riseth up for his people's sake.
SIXTH SENTENCE
Exhortation to denounce ambition
Whether thou hast acted foolishly in exalting thyself,
Or whether thou hast done wisely, lay thy hand upon thy lips![316]
For pressure of milk produces butter,
And pressure of vanity produces anger;
Pressure of the nose[317] produces blood,
And pressure of wrath produces strife.
Footnotes:
[312] To this and the following Sayings, Agur's orthodox opponent replies
thus:
Every word of God is purified:
He is a shield to them that put their trust in him.
Add thou not unto his words,
Lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
Two things have I demanded of thee, O Jahveh,
Deny me them not before I die:
Frivolity and blasphemous words
And negation remove far from me.
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with food suitable for me.
Lest I be sated and deny thee,
And say, Who is the Lord?
Or lest I be poor and yield to seduction
And offend against the name of my God.
Accuse not a servant to his master,[312a]
Lest he curse thee and thou be found guilty.
There is a bad generation that curses its father
And doth not bless its mother,[312b]
A bad generation which is pure in its own eyes,
And yet is not washed from its filthiness.
A bad generation, how lofty are its eyes!
And how uplifted its eyelids!
A bad generation whose teeth are as swords,
And whose jaw-teeth are as knives
To devour the poor from off the earth,
And the needy from among men.[312c]
[312a] As if Agur were an aristocrat from blind unreasoning sympathy for
the heathen aristocracy. Allusion to Agur's 4th Saying.
[312b] Against Agur's 2nd and 3rd Sayings.
[312c] Against Agur's 4th Saying.
[313] I.e., birth and death. (Cf. Agur, the Agnostic, pp. 139, 140.) The champion of orthodoxy evidently took the passage literally and consequently condemned Agur as guilty of a lack of filial respect for his mother, venting his feelings in the following lines:
"The eye that scoffeth at the grey hair of the father
And that despiseth the old age of the mother,
The ravens of the valley shall pick it out
And the young eagles shall devour it."
[314] Verse 20 A.V. is an addition inserted by a later writer who having misunderstood the last line of the fourth sentence, deemed it his duty to give it a moral turn.
[315] The Sentence following (vv. 24-24 A.V.) dealing with Four Cunning Ones is probably not from Agur's pen; for not only has it five distichs, but it lacks the point which characterises his Sayings, besides which it does not begin, as his "numerical" Sentences do, with three before proceeding to four.
[316] Keep silence.
[317] In Hebrew the same word signifies "nose" and "strife."
* * * * *
INDEX
* * * * *
INDEX
Adversary, the, "a son of God"
Agur, the Sayings of—
their literary place
character of
their position in Proverbs
their present form
Agur and his orthodox opponent
blunders of the latter
Oriental influence traceable in the Sayings
the mystery of generation
date of composition
Agur shows no respect for the doctrine of retribution, for
Messianism, revelation, &c.; no belief in a personal God
his antagonism to Jewish theologians
his views of right conduct
Angels
Animals, the tenderness of Buddhism towards
Aryans and Semites, contrast of mental characteristics
Asterisks, Origen's, in the Hexapla
Authorship of Job
Bickell, Professor, and the laws of Hebrew metre
discovery of the Saidic version of Job
on the theophany in Job
theory as to the chaotic state of Koheleth
and the "Praise of Wisdom"
textual conjectures
"Book, That mine adversary had written a"
Book of Job (see Job)
Buddhism and the theology of Job
and Job's moral system
influence of, on Koheleth
Buddhism, spread of, into Syria, Egypt, &c.
influence of, on Agur
and the doctrine of Renunciation
its tenderness towards animals and plants
Byron's "Cain" and Job
"Cain" (Byron's) and Job
"Canticles of Scepticism," Heine's description of Koheleth
Cheyne, Prof., and the date of Job
and the laws of Hebrew metre
and Prof. Bickell's theory of the plan of Koheleth
on the "theism" of Koheleth
Job, strophe liii. and Ps. viii. 5 compared.
Christ and the doctrine of Renunciation
Christianity not incompatible with Koheleth's scepticism
Clement of Alexandria and a lost version of Job
Cornill, Dr., and the date of Job
Council of Constantinople and the historical truth of Job
Critical apparatus applied to text of Job
Date of Job
of earliest extant MS. of Job
of Koheleth
of the Sayings of Agur
Ecclesiastes (see Koheleth)
Ecclesiasticus, dropped leaves causing transposition of chapters in
Elephantiasis
Eternal justice, Job's belief in
Koheleth's belief in
Evil (see Good and Evil)
Ewald and the laws of Hebrew metre
Firmament, the
Free-will and the origin of evil
Future life, Job knows nothing of
Koheleth knows nothing of
Ghoul, the (Tanha) Good and Evil, problem of free-will and the origin of evil the Oriental theory of Gregory the Great and the Book of Job
Hebrew metre, Prof. Bickell and the laws of
Heine and the "Canticles of Scepticism"
Hitopadeça, the, and the Sayings of Agur
Inspiration of Job not affected by reconstructive changes
Interpolations in Job, examples of
Isaac of Antioch, transpositions in poems caused by dropped leaves
Jesus Sirach and the Book of Proverbs
Job, the Poem of—
compared with Lucretius, De Nat. Rerum
its inclusion in the Canon
its appeal to all ages
opinion of Gregory the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Tennyson,
Luther
its place in literature
the problem of traditional theology the mystery of good and evil no conception of a future life nor of the Resurrection or Atonement the poet's view of the problem free-will and the origin of evil the Oriental theory of these Brahmanism and Buddhism Job's illumination the same as Buddha's
authorship of
date of
the question of historicity
date of earliest extant MS. of
a lost version of
various causes for changes in text
the chief cause, a horror of blasphemy
apparatus for detecting these changes
laws of Hebrew metre
parallelism
evidence of the Septuagint
Theodotion's version of the Old Testament
the Hexapla
the Saidic or Thebaic version of Job
examples of interpolations reconstructive changes do not affect inspiration Job's natural philosophy his dynamic theory of the Universe his monotheism not Jewish his moral system, based on pity, found in Buddhism, and here first preached in the Old Testament belief in eternal justice the secret of Job's resignation
the ancient legend of Job, use of it by the poet analysis of the Poem the appearance of Jehovah not literal but symbolical of Job's illumination Judaism, the influence of Buddhism on
Kant and Koheleth
Koheleth—
its inclusion in the Canon
the literary problem of
its metaphysical basis the same as that of the philosophy of
Buddha, Kant, and Schopenhauer
chaotic and conflicting character of text Prof. Bickell's theory as to the confusion of the book instances of similar confusion in other works the proposed re-arrangement illustrations in support of Prof. Bickell's theory
Koheleth's theory of life
source of happiness not wealth
nor wisdom
nor virtue
Koheleth's system
relation of God to man
the practical moral
the view of "moral order"
the world all Maya, illusion
Koheleth's theory not inconsistent with Christianity
the reach of our knowledge; happiness the only true good
Koheleth knows nothing of future life or of divine promises or
revelations
his belief in eternal justice renunciation, the great doctrine wisdom the great boon content and moderation the golden rule the sources of his philosophy opposition of Jewish orthodoxy to the book admission of the book to the Canon its incompatibility with Messianic hopes of Israel disbelief in a personal God in retribution and immortality Greek influences questioned; probable influence of Buddhism date and locality of Koheleth
Life to come (see Future Life)
Lucretius compared with Job
Luther and the Book of Job
Magicians mentioned in Job
Maya, illusion, the teaching of Koheleth
Metre in Hebrew, laws of
Nirvana, Koheleth's only real good
view of
Old Testament, untrustworthiness of historical books
Origen and the Hexapla
Parallelism in Hebrew poetry
Paul, St., and a lost version of Job
"Praise of Wisdom," its place in "Proverbs," Prof. Bickell's discovery
Priests' Code, the
"Proverbs," analysis of
not written by Solomon
their history
date of
Plants, tenderness of Buddhism towards
Renunciation, the teaching of Koheleth, Buddha, Christ, etc.
Resurrection, the (in Job)
"Redeemer liveth, I know that my"
Saidic or Thebaic version of Job Sariputto, and the desire for life (tanha) Satan, "a son of God" Scotus Erigena and free-will Schopenhauer and Koheleth and Renunciation and the four things insatiable Semites, remains of ancient speculation among and Aryans, contrast of mental characteristics Septuagint, the value of, in regard to text of Job
Tanha, the terrible Ghoul
Tennyson's opinion of Job
Thebaic or Saidic version of Job
Theodore of Mopsuestia condemned for declaring Job to be fiction
Theodotion's version of the Old Testament
Thomas Aquinas on Job
Transmigration of souls
Veda, the
Vedanta, the
Vowel points in Hebrew
"Wisdom, Praise of," its place in "Proverbs," Prof. Bickell's discovery
* * * * *