436 LECTURES AND ESSAYS [1874- 



mere equilibrium of sound, but in a balance or parallelism 

 of sense. As rhythm necessarily implies the correspond 

 ence of at least two parallel parts, the ultimate unit of 

 Hebrew poetry is a verse consisting of two members 

 embodying two answering thoughts. And as correspond 

 ence of thought brings with it similarity of expression, the 

 two members of the verse will be similar in length and 

 possess a certain irregular harmony of accent, which can 

 be felt though not subjected to rule, and which, having 

 its source altogether in the intrinsic structure of the 

 thought, can be reproduced with tolerable accuracy, even 

 in a good prose translation. 



The simplest form of Hebrew rhythm shaped on these 

 principles is that which from the time of Lowth has been 

 called the &quot; synonymous parallelism &quot; of a distich : 



There the wicked cease from troubling | 



And the weary be at rest. || 



There the prisoners are at rest together, | 



They hear not the taskmaster s voice. || 



Small and great are there the same ; | 



And the servant is free from his master. || : 



In this simplest form the rhythm is so clearly cut that it 

 can hardly be lost even by translators who, like those of 

 our English Version, were not conscious of the principle 

 involved. Effects of this kind therefore are almost 

 always well rendered, and are quite familiar to the English 

 reader. A more complicated figure, however, which has 

 not always been so successfully reproduced, arises where 

 each member of the verse becomes so long that it again 

 falls by a ccesura into two subdivisions ^ 



How sitteth she lonely | the populous city | 



Is she become a widow | who was great among the nations | 



A princess among provinces | is become a vassal. 2 



It is not, of course, necessary that the balance of parts 

 should take the form of the repetition of similar thoughts. 

 A relation of antithesis is equally rhythmical, and gives 

 what Lowth calls &quot; antithetic parallelism &quot; : 



1 Jobiii. 17-19. 2 Lam - i- I - 



