extremity of his humiliation he could turn to for help. He had come to learn by experience that lesson which the Church has been teaching the world these eighteen hundred years, i. e., that she conquers to save, not to destroy. He had warred against the Papacy, and it had defied him, standing like a fortress on a rock while the tempest raged round it, waiting in its calm strength until the word should come forth, bidding the power that had let loose the winds and put the waters in a roar, stand back, and, in its turn, bow down and do homage to a power mightier and more august. When the storm fell, and with it the enemy of the Church, the mighty Mother opened wide her arms in pardon and protection to the vanquished and prostrate foe.

AN OLD BIBLICAL PROBLEM SOLVED AT LAST.

Carmina Veteris Testamenti Metrice; Notas criticas et dissertationem de re metrica Hebræorum adjecit Dr. Gustavus Bickell. Oeniponte in libraria academiæ Wagnerianæ. 1882.

A

MONG the publications, treating of Biblical Science, which in late years have appeared from the pen of Catholic authors, one of the most important and interesting is certainly the book on Hebrew Metres, which Professor Bickell, of the University of Innsbruck, has just given to the learned world.

By this work, we are convinced, a very old and difficult problem has at last found its long-desired solution. There is not, and there cannot be, any doubt that the Hebrew language, like its sister languages, the Syriac and Arabic, has the capacity of forming both metres and rhymes, for the metrical capability of the Hebrew is clearly shown by the Jewish literature of the Christian era, which contains a vast number of metrical works, not less artfully composed than some of the most celebrated Arabic poems. Jehuda Charisi, for instance, has translated the well-known Makamas of Harriri into Hebrew verses, specimens of which are given by De Sacy,' and he himself has composed a very good Hebrew imitation of the Arabian poet in his Tachkemoni.

But it is quite another question whether the old Hebrew poets ever availed themselves of this undoubted aptitude of their lan

In his Harriri Preface.

guage, and especially whether the authors of the poetical parts of the Bible constructed their verses and strophes according to a strict metrical law or syllabic measure. Three years ago this was denied, or at least seriously questioned, by nearly all Biblical scholars. "Hebrew poetry," says Franz Delitzsch,'"knows only that rhythm which is the unaffected step of thought; a harmony which slips away from under all the laws by which one would. bind it; a melody of language which is a charm only for those who feel it." Since that time, however, one of our greatest Orientalists has surprised the world with, as we think, evident proof of the existence of metre in Hebrew. Men of high scientific authority, like Lamy, Gutberlet, and Rohling have already declared-in favor of Bickell's metrical system. But it has also been attacked severely, although not by strong arguments, and the controversy is, by no means closed; on the contrary, it bids fair to be carried on perhaps with greater activity than before. Under these circumstances the present paper on the question of Biblical Metrics and its solution by Dr. Bickell may prove not unwelcome to the readers of the REVIEW, to whom we need not explain the great importance of the subject, not only in philological and literary, but also in critical, exegetical, and theological respects.

Bickell, in the introductory dissertation to his Metres, makes only a few and, according to his custom, very short remarks about the intrinsic probability and historical certainty of the existence of Hebrew metre. These, especially the testimony of the ancients, have been and are still undervalued and very frequently misunderstood. It will, therefore, not be useless to cast a glance at the a priori side of the question and to consider more attentively the pertinent historical tradition, before we explain the principles and give some specimens of the new metrical theory. We know full

1 Cfr. Thalhofer Psalmen Einl. XIX. "Der Hebræische Vers ist nichts abscine gehobene, gleichsam in Musik gesetzte Prosa." Delitzsch, 1. c.

2 Among others, the following wrote against Bickell: Dr. Schlottmann, of the University of Halle, whose objections Bickell refuted in Z. D. M. G. (periodical of the German Oriental Society), 1879, pp. 701-706; B. Shafer, in Lit. Handweiser, 1881, Nr. 281, and a certain Dr. Jacob Eckert, in the same periodical, 1882, Nr. 320. Cfr. also, Schuerer-Harnack, Theol. Lit. Zeitg., 1880, p. 550. Among those who wrote in favor of his metrical system, besides the above-mentioned, were in Austria the Jesuits Jo. Heller and Matthias Flunk, in Zeitschr. f. Kath. Theologie, 1879, N. 1, 1882, N. 2; P. Placidus Steininger, O. S. B., Theol. practische Quartalschr, 1882, N. 4; in Germany, the learned interpreter, Jos. Knabenbauer, S. J., in his "Erklaerung des Profeten Isaias," 1882, p. v., 41; J. Gietmann, S. J., in Stimmen aus Maria Laach, 1882, N. 2; Ludwig von Harmann, Magazin f. d., Lit. des In-und Auslandes, 1882, N. 46, and anonymous critics in the periodical, Theol. Lit. Blatt., 1882, N. 36, and Beweis d. Glaubens, 1882, N. 8; in England an anonymous writer in the Athenæum, 1879, N. 2678; finally, in France, P. Edmund Bouvy, O. S. Aug. (Lettres Chretiennes, 1880, N. 3, 4; 1881, N. 5,9); and Fr. Vigouroux, in the Monde, 1882, N. 257.

well that this question cannot be decided satisfactorily by tradition, but only by the evidence shown in the sacred text itself. Still, it is nevertheless true, that theories which are entirely new meet, although sometimes without deserving it, more distrust and opposition than theories which may be satisfactorily traced to the past, and which present themselves as the reproduction, development, or improvement of older doctrines. Bickell's theory is new, so far as it is the first and only perfect metrical system comprehending all the poetry of the Old Testament, explaining it according to the philological and grammatical standpoint of our time, from which it can and even must be understood and proved without paying any attention to the statements and hypotheses previously advanced in regard to this matter. But it stands also in close connection with the ancient testimonies, which are splendidly justified and, what had never been done before, explained by it. And besides, tradition, in turn, casts the weight of its authority, whose scientific value only prejudice could ignore, into the scale, inclining it in favor of the newly broached theory, the results of which must be acknowledged also by those who cannot examine for themselves the original texts of the sacred poets.

I. THE EXISTENCE OF BIBLICAL METRES IS HIGHLY PROBABLE A PRIORI AND BY THE NATURE OF BIBLICAL POETRY. First of all, very naturally arises the question, Is there nothing indubitable and a priori certain relative to this problem? Poetry as a fine art essentially requires, indeed, its proper sensible form, which corresponds to the poetic spirit as the body corresponds to the animating soul; but does syllabic measure belong to this essential form? Metre and rhythm flow quite naturally and, so to say, by a higher spiritual organic process, from the intrinsic power and fertility of the poetic genius; they are only the expression and external manifestation of that harmony and beauty which lie in the depth of the poetic ideal, and are vividly apprehended by the poet. As the flower from the bud these blossoms come forth, when the required conditions in human life and history, and especially if the sufficient development of language and mental culture, are present and available. Then is heard the voice of song, then arise in all nations the forms of poetry, which by imitation soon become the common recognized rules. "Man is both a Poet and a Musician by nature. The same impulse that prompted the enthusiastic Poetic style, prompted a certain melody or modulation of sound suited to the emotions of Joy or Grief, of Admiration, Love or Anger. . . . Music and, Poetry had the same rise. . . . The first poets sang their own verses, and hence the beginning of what we call Versification, or words arranged in a more artistic order than

prose, so as to be suited to some tune or melody. The liberty of transposition or inversion which the Poetic style would naturally assume, made it easier to form the words into some sort of numbers that fell in with the music of the song. Very harsh and uncouth, we may easily believe, these numbers would be at first. But the pleasure was felt, it was studied, and versification, by degrees, passed into an art." In this manner one of the best and most sober English writers at the end of the last century, Hugh Blair,' represents the origin of poetical forms. Yet in this process of development there are many stages. What must have been the properties of poetical language, both in its primitive and in its more developed state? Certainly, poetry must have been always distinguished from the common language of daily life, not only by frequent figures and tropical expressions, by more rare words and a general more careful regard to euphony; but also by a special peculiar arrangement of syllables, words, and sentences. Hence, it is certain a priori, as we boldly venture to state, that true poetry, and therefore also Hebrew poetry, has never been, as some hold, a mere "poetry of things," but has been a "poetry of sounds and words " as well. A bare rhythm of thoughts had never sufficed for the essential requirements of poetical form. It must have been harmonious, melodious, rhythmical. But also metrical? No one can prove that metre is strictly essential and necessary to it. Hugh Blair asserts in the work already quoted (p. 81) that the language of poetry "is formed most commonly into regular numbers, because, though versification be in general the exterior distinction of poetry, yet there are some forms of verse so loose and familiar as to be hardly distinguishable from prose; such as are the verses of Terence's Comedies; and there is also a species of prose so measured in its cadence and so much raised in its tone, as to approach very near to poetical numbers, such as the Telemachus of Fenelon and the English translation of Ossian. The truth is, verse and prose, on some occasions, run into one another like light and shade. It is hardly possible to determine the exact limit where eloquence ends and poetry begins." What Blair advances here in regard to modern and classical literature, is by no means out of place in our discussion; for if we clearly see that metrical versification is not essential to every poetical production, we must also pay attention to the fact, evident in literature, that only a few kinds of poetical art-forms are excepted from the common law of metre, and these bear no resemblance to what is called Biblical poetry. It may be granted, that such a kind of poetical prose is found in the Prophets and in some other portions of the Bible. But it cannot be presumed that this intermediate form, which is generally an exception in lit

1 Lectures on Rhetoric, London, 1813, vol. iii., p. 84.

erature, is the predominant rule in the lyrical and didactic books of the sacred volume, and therefore in the whole of Hebrew poetry. If any species of poetry demands metre, it is assuredly the lyrical. A measured rhythm founded on the arrangement of the elementary parts of the verses and corresponding to the musical melody, seems to be necessary to the art-form of song; and whatever may have been argued to the contrary, this opinion remains highly probable, both from the very nature of the lyric in itself andwhat is of the greatest weight-from universal analogy.

The common use of metre in the song is not founded on arbitrary choice or some accidental impulse. What Dr. J. Jungmann appositely remarks in his work on Beauty and the Fine Arts,' is very true. "The exercise of art depends on the liberty of man, but not its rules; these are altogether necessary laws, founded upon the nature of things." Art in its development imitates nature in some way or other, it does what it can, not absolutely of course, but relatively; that is, according as circumstances may favor. If a tree has branches and green leaves, it will also have buds and blossoms in due time. If the poetical literature of the Old Testament possesses not only that general beauty of form which is proper to true poetry, but also rhythmical harmony and a careful arrangement of the single numbers in reference to the whole, it must also possess metre.

But is not this conclusion too bold? The conditions, both subjective and objective, under which the forms of poetry are developed are so numerous, and many of them are entirely uncontrollable. What a hidden mysterious thing to us is the genius of the old languages! What great mistakes may be made here by transferring our own notions and our own taste far back into antiquity! Let us suppose some votary of song in the thirteenth century knowing, by chance, very little of Latin except a few ecclesiastical hymns, but well acquainted with the beautiful poetical effusions of his time, to ask himself whether the songs of the old Romans and Greeks were rhymed or not. He deems rhyme to be a necessary requirement of poetical language. Without consulting a better informed man, or the ancient poets themselves, he will scarcely doubt that their poems were rhymed. Are we not similarly prepossessed, judging metre to be necessary in lyrical poetry, and hence led into a similar erroneous conclusion? We opine not. We opine not. For we think metre far more closely connected with the essential character of poetical, and especially lyrical, language than is rhyme.

Since the organs of voice depend for their motion upon those of respiration, human speech has always its natural arsis and thesis,

1 Schoenheit und schoene Kunst nach den Grundsäetzen d. socrat. u christl. Phil. Innsbruck. Wagner, 1866, p. 265.