Page:An Essay on the Age and Antiquity of the Book of Nabathaean Agriculture.djvu/144

Rh that of simple interpreters. The Jewish philosophy of that period is Arabian philosophy, without modification. One page of Roger Bacon contains more of the true spirit of Science than all this second hand knowledge, devoid of true originality, and respectable only as a link in the chain of tradition.

If we examine the question in a moral and social point of view, we shall find that Shemitic morality is, at times, very high and very pure. The code attributed to Moses contains exalted ideas of right. The prophets are sometimes most eloquent tribunes. The moralists, Jesus the son of Sirach, and Hillel, rise to a surprising loftiness. Nor must we forget that the morality of the Gospel was first preached in a Shemitic tongue. On the other hand the Shemitic character is generally hard, narrow, egotistical. In this race we find strong passions, perfect devotion, and incomparable qualities. It rarely possesses that delicacy of moral feeling which seems