from the Targumic paraphrase of Jer. ix. 23, 'Let not Solomon the son of David, the wise man, glory in his wisdom.' Of course, the real names of the authors of the proverbs had been as irrecoverably lost as those of our early ballad-writers.
But though we must deny the Solomonic authorship a far-off influence of the Solomonic age may perhaps be admitted; at least, there are grounds for the opinion that some of the proverbs are as old as the ninth century. (1) The second collection of so-called Solomonic proverbs was compiled according to a credible tradition (xxv. 1) in the reign of Hezekiah; this of itself throws the earlier collection a considerable way back into the eighth century. (2) Upon examining the first anthology we find that some of the proverbs already have a history. For instance, (a) the solemn generalisation in xiv. 12 occurs in exactly the same form in xvi. 25, (b) eight other proverbs are repeated with slight changes in expression (x. 1 = xv. 20, x.2 = xi.4, xiii. 14 = xiv. 27, xiv. 20 = xix. 4, xvi. 2 = xxi. 2, xix, 5 = xix. 9, xx. 10 = xx. 23, xxi. 9 = xxi. 19), but except in the case of xi. 4, xiv. 27 no change in thought, (c) ten are repeated, at least so far as one line goes, either exactly or with but slight differences (x. 15 = xviii. 11, x. 6[1] = x. 11, x. 8 = x. 10,[2] xv. 33 = xviii. 12, xi. 13 = xx. 19, xi, 21 = xvi. 5, xii. 14 = xiii. 2, xiv. 31 = xvii. 5, xvi. 18 = xviii. 12, xix. 12 = xx. 2). It is probable that some time would elapse before a proverb attained such notoriety as to be circulated in varying forms. (3) The originality of the diction (a) and the careful observance of technical rules of composition (b) favour an early date. (a) For instance, 'steersmanship'[3] (xi. 14, xii. 5, xx. 18), as a term for practical wisdom or counsels, evidently springs from a fresh enthusiasm for commerce; a long list of striking expressions might be added from any chapter of the collection. (b) Nor is technical precision at all less conspicuous in this early anthology. Each proverb is a distich, i.e.
- ↑ The second line however seems to have intruded from ver. 11, and thus to have supplanted the original.
- ↑ Here again the second line is evidently an intruder (from ver. 8). We should doubtless read with Sept., 'but he that reproves produces welfare.'
- ↑ This word (takhbūlōth) also occurs in xxiv. 6, i. 5, Job xxxvii. 12.
