Echoes of Wisdom OR Talmudic Sayings with Classic, BY G. TAUBENHAUS, PART I. HAEDRICH & SONS' PRINT, Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1900, by G. TAUBENHAUS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. In presenting Talmud and Classics together, the object is not to throw the charge of plagiarism at any door, but to bring the Talmud nearer to the understanding of at least some of the many who, lacking all knowledge of the same, profanely disparage it. The beautiful form is not the chief boast of the Classics. They are at their noblest when glorifying some metaphysical or practical truth. Where that is absent they fail to charm us. Homer and Virgil, Plato and Cicero have no fascination in spite of their rhythmic and blossoming diction when they correct no error, improve no moral, clarify no idea, and elevate no truth. That wisdom which is the pulsation and vitality of the Classics is a part of the wisdom laid up in the Talmud, I say a part, because as to vastness of influence and loftiness of religious thought the Talmud is without a compeer. It is the luminous stratum of the Bible, and has been and is still, to a vast extent, the enlarged and illustrated Bible of Israel. The present volume, comprising Talmudic sayings beginning with "Aleph," is the first of a proposed series to come forth in alphabetical order, and on the same plan. Recognizing my indebtedness to the "Milin D'rabbanan" and to Ramage's "Beautiful thoughts of Latin Authors," whose translation I occasionally adopted, I wish this booklet a cordial reception. THE AUTHOR. I. "The pipe which affords sweet music to princes is not appreciated by weavers."-Talmud. We should seek to earn the plaudits of refined taste. Although it is some accomplishment to please any class of people. The cheap dining-room is as much needed as the high-toned restaurant. Shall those starve who have no taste and no means for dainties and delicacies? But to please all tastes alike is a difficult matter. So Horace: "What shall I give, what shall I not give. Thou refusest what another demands." אבוב לחרי זמר לגרדאי לא מקבלוה מיניה (יומא כ) 2. "Quid dem? Quid non dem? Renuis tu, quod jubet alter."-Epist. ii. 2. II. "At the door of the well-supplied store-room there are brethren and friends; but at the door of poverty neither brethren nor friends are seen." This is a universal experience and it were useless to ask why it is so. Aristotle having been. asked why people like to spend so much of their time with handsome persons remarked: "This is a question fit for a blind man to ask." Everything in this world must feed on something. Love and friendship, too, must have some means of sustenance. |