Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/549

* PROVERB. 481 PROVIDENCE. Quitard, Dictionnaire des pruverhes (ib., 1842) ; Le Koux, Licre des proverbes (ib., 1850) ; >auvC', I'roverbes de la Basse Bretagne (ib., 1378). Spaxisu: The Infante Don .Juan Manuel, <onde Lucanor (fourteenth centuiy), where proverbs may be found in the tales; Santillana., Los proverhios (fifteenth century), 100 proverbs in rhyme; colleetions in sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries were numerous; Refranes, from the dictionary of the Academy (Madrid, 1813) ; Burke. Spanish Salt (London, 1877), as repre- sented by the proverbs in "Don Quixote;" and for full information, .J. M. Sbarbi, Monografia sobre los refranes y las obras que tratan de ellos (Madrid, 1891). Itali.X: Giusti, I'roverbi tos- riini (Florence. 1853). rev. by C'apponi (1884). Germ.N" : Wander, Sprichioiirter-Leacicon (Leip- zig. 1807), and Rheinsberg-Duringsfeld, Spricli- •iirter der germanischen und romunischen sitraclwii (Leipzig, 1872-75). Dutch: Harre- bomes, SprecKuoorden boek (Utrecht, 1858-65). D.>ISU: Collection by Molbecli (Copenhagen. 1850), Gruntvig (ib., 1875). Arabic: Freytag, Arabiim Proverbia (Bonn, 1838-4.3) ; Burck- hardt. Arabic Proverbs (London, 18.30; new- ed., 1875). Beiiar: J. Christian, Behar Proverbs (Loudon, 1891). There are also collections of proverbs in Russian, Persian. Hindustani, Chinese, Japanese, and in numerous other lan- guages. PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. Essays in blank verse, on almost every emotion and condi- tion of life, by Martin Farquhar Tupper. in four series, 1S38-7C. These meditations, often merel_v commonplace, were once very popular, a million copies, it is said, being sold in America, and were translated into several languages, but are now a synonym for dullness. PROVERBS, Book of. A book of the Old Testament, containing an anthology of gnomes and sentences, forming, in the Hebrew Canon, the second book of the Hagiographa. Like .Job and Ecclesiastes, it belongs to the Wisdom Literature of the Hebrews. The form of these proverbs is manifold — .similes, enigmas, theses and antithe- ses, wise sayings, comparisons, etc.. vary con- stantly. The book falls naturally into eight dis- tinct sections, partially marked off by special titles: (1) Chapters i.-ix.. forming a' kin<l of introduction to what follows and chiefly taken up with exhortations to the reader to follow wisdom and fiee folly. In chapter viii. Wisdom is per- sonified and introduced as the speaker, while in chapter ix. Folly is likewise per.sonified and the two — Wisdom and Folly — are pictured as women, offering rival invitations and inducements to men. (2) Chapters x.-xxii. 1(3. with the head- ing 'Proverbs of Solomon,' constitute the kernel of the collection. Each verse is complete in itself and forms an independent saying. (3) Chapters xxii. 17-xxiv. 22. a .small separate collection dis- tinguished from what precedes by a series of maxims that usually extend over several verses — generally two or three, though in one case as many as seven. The address, as in the first col- lection, is to a 'son' and the exhortations are described as 'words of the wise.' (4) Chapter xxiv. 23-34. forming an appendix to the preceding and distinguished by a separate heading. (5) Chapters xx^'.-xxix.. with the heading 'These also are proverbs of Solomon collected by the men of Hezekiah, King of Judah.' In this collection again, each verse, as a general thing, forms an independent saying, though this principle is not consistently carried out. Some of the proverbs in this collection duplicate those found in the second. (6) Chapter x.vx., with the heading 'Words of Agur ben Jakeh,' a series of enig- matical sayings. (7) Chapter xxxi. 1-9. exhor- tations addressed to Lemuel, King of Messa, by his mother, the main theme of which is a caution against wine and women. (8) Chapter xxxi. 10- 3l, an alphabetical poem devoted to the praise of the virtuous housewife. It is evident from this survey that the Book of Proverbs is a combination of several distinct collections, to which furthermore a number of fragments from other collections have been added. The name of Solomon is introduced as a symbol of practical and theoretical wisdom, just as elsewhere in the Old Testament Solomon is the symbol of wealth, power, and luxury. Some of the sayings may go back to the days of Solomon, and the tradition (xx^-. 1) which ascribes a col- lection of proverbs to the men of Hezekiah's time may l)e valid, but this has no bear- ing upon the collection as a whole, nor does it necessarily settle the date of all the sayings embodied in those portions of the book which are distinctly connected by tradition with the name of Solomon. The Book of Proverbs represents in all proba- bility a gradual growth that extended over a long period of time. Of the separate collections comprised in the book, all the internal evidence points to the second as the oldest, while the fifth comes next. The first is later. The third and fourth divisions may be regarded as fragments which were added to x.-xxii. 1(5, and similarly the sixth and seventh divisions are fragments added to xxv.-xxix. The alphabetical poem (x.xxi.) is an independent composition of a late date. It is doubtful whether the oldest collec- tion belongs to the pre-exilic period, and the .sections were not put together until after the return from Babylonia. The internal evidence, however, is insufficient for fixing the dates of compilation of the various divisions of the book more definitely. As the latest date for the first section, and therefore the earliest possible date for the compilation in its present shape, we may fix upon B.C. 2.50. Many of the sayings are no doubt of popular origin, but the great bulk bear a scholastic and pedantic character which points to their rise in literary circles. BiBLioGBAPiiT. There are commentaries 0(j the Book of Proverbs by Ewald (2d ed.. Gottin- gcn. 1867; Eng. trans., London. 1880) : Delitzsch (Leipzig, 1873); Xowack (ib.. 1883); Strack (ilunich, 1888; 2d ed. 1889): Vildeboer (Frei- burg. 1897); Frankenberg (Gottingen, 1898); PerowTie, Cambridge Bible for Schools and Col- leges (Cambridge. 1899) ; and Toy. International Critical Commentary (Xew York, 1899). Con- sult, also: Cheyne. Job and Solomon (London, 1887) ; Baumgarten. Etude critique sur I'ftat du texte du livre des Proverbes (Leipzig, 1890) ; Baudissin, Die alttestamentliehc Spruchdichtung (ib.. 1893) : Davidson, The Wisdom Literature of the Oh! Tixtament (London. 1894). PROVIDENCE (Lat. providenlia. foresight, from providere. to foresee, from pro. before, for -f- videre. to see). A term of theologA'. including two elements. God's preservation and administm- tion of the material universe, and His moral