with Pharoah's daughter preceded this event but a few years; and as this was the best period of his life for wisdom, piety, and happiness: at the same time I confess also that it appears to me to be a mere conjecture, unsupported by argument or authority. I shall not detain the reader any longer in these preliminary essays, which are already disproportioned to the size of the work; but I shall Immediately present him with the proposed translation, unaccompanied with remarks, except to distinguish the speakers, and mark the divisions: then I shall repeat the whole in convenient portions, accompanied with a commentary, and subjoin critical notes in the margin. The judicious reader, aware of the difficulty of the undertaking, will make candid allowances in an attempt wherein so many great men have failed: and the pious reader will avail himself of the hints offered rather to suggest subjects of meditation than to exhaust them. THE SONG OF SONGS, WHICH IS BY SOLOMON. CHAP. I. SECTION I. [1st Morning.] 2 LET SPOUSE. ET him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For better is thý love than wine; 3 Because of the odour of thy good ointments, (Thy name is as ointment poured out) 4 O draw me! VIRGINS. -After thee will we run. SPOUSE. The king hath brought me into his chambers. VIRGINS. We will be glad and rejoice in thee: SPOUSE. 5 Dark am I, but comely, ye daughters of Jerusalem, As the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. 6 Gaze not upon me because I am blackBecause the sun hath beamed on me. R GH. I. My mother's sons were angry with me; 7 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest? Where thou causest [thy flock] to rest at For why should I be as a stranger VIRGINS. 8 If thou thyself knowest not, O most beautiful of women, 1 Go thy way forth by the footsteps of this flock, And feed thy kids among the tents of these shepherds. SECTION II. [1st Evening.] BRIDEGROOM. 9 To the horse in Pharaoh's chariots Have I compared thee, my consort : 10 Thy cheeks are comely with rows, Thy neck with [ornamental] chains. VIRGINS. 11 Rows of gold will we make for thee, With studs of silver. SPOUSE. 12 While the king is in his circle [of friends] My spikenard shall yield its odour. 13 A bundle of myrrh is my beloved unto me, [Which] shall remain continually in my bosom. |