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