Page:Ginzburg - The Legends of the Jews - Volume 7.djvu/13

 In preparing the Index, I endeavored to make it as complete and comprehensive as possible in order to facilitate the use of the inexhaustible fund of Agadic material deposited in the Legends of the Jews. Embarrassed with a superabundance of materials I was obliged to make abridgments in order to keep the volume within practical compass. Consequently I often combined several items under one heading, e. g. under “Aaron, virtues of,” there are thirteen references embracing the following items: generosity, II. 329; piety, III. 168, 189, 210, 316, 334; modesty, III. 183, 328; VI. 81; simplicity, III. 324, lover of peace, III. 328; VI. 97; popularity, VII. 113.

With regard to the arrangement of the material in the Index, the following is to be noted. As a leading principle I grouped the items under a given heading in accordance with the order in which they are found in the volumes, e. g., Aaron comforts the Messiah, 1.23; Aaron, breastplate of, II. 31. This system was properly chosen because it was a rule that could be followed with the greatest consistency. It must be avowed that this method has its shortcomings, as it often led to an incongruous association of facts. A precedent, however, for this method is to be found in the index to Frazer’s Golden Bough. Since no amount of ingenuity would permit absolute consistency, it was necessary not infrequently to deviate from this procedure, particularly in case of larger topics, such as, Israel, Torah, Angels, or Moses. In such instances it was deemed best to classify the items according to a logical principle. For example, in regard to Moses, the facts that were related to one another in thought were brought together, thus,