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20.

15. "Sabea": a northern part of Arabia, of old famed for its spices—" Sabæan odours."

21.

22. "for his soul": to save his life.

22.

1. "bless him no more." This expresses the sense of the original Latin, but is the very opposite of a literal translation. "Benedic Deo' means "bless God." But it is here used for "say good-bye to God," and so "renounce him utterly," In the efforts of various translators we can see evidence of the confusion caused by so puzzling an expression.

Caxton's scriptural quotations are all closely translated from the "Vulgate"—"Scripturarum editio communis et vulgata"—the Latin version which since the fifth century became the official and authorised text of Western Christendom.

20. S Gregory, first Pope of that name, called "the Great," who sent Augustine into England to preach Christianity in 597. See his life in this volume.

22. "I pass over." It is a pity that Caxton did not supply a brief account of the great debate carried on by Job and his friends as to the justice and providence of God. Their views are not always easy to understand, but the profundity and sublimity of the religious poem thus composed are unrivalled.

"A religious poem," or "moral apologue," is a just description of the Book of Job; its narrative portions give a dramatic and poetic form to events taken from actual life

29-32. Observe correct use of "ye" and "you," as nom and obj respectively.

Job was a Gentile, not a Jew. This gives a peculiar interest to his story and to the fact of its inclusion among the Hebrew sacred books. It shows that the exclusiveness of the Jews—by which they were sheltered from the corrupting influence of the surrounding idolatry—did not prevent their acknowledging that the protecting hand and saving providence of God were extended over all men alike.

The patience of Job under severe tribulation is referred to by Tobias and by S. James. It has become proverbial. Yet Job gave sufficient evidence of very strong feeling under his trials. It is consoling for the sorely-tried to learn on the authority of Scripture that the patience of a saint is not the same thing as the patience of a stone.