30 FORMS OF HEBREW POETRY
Parallelism, then, certainly continued into the
second century A.D. to be a feature in Hebrew
poetry, or in Hebrew literature written in a form
differing from ordinary prose. Whether poetry
distinguished by the sustained use of parallelism
was still composed after the second century is
doubtful; but in this connexion two recently re-
covered documents may be very briefly referred to.
1 Certainly no literary work that is at present generally admitted
to be later than the second century is marked by such sustained
parallelism as we find in parts of the Apocalypse of Baruch, or by any-
thing approaching it. But the Talmud contains a few snatches of
occasional poetry one or two of which, at least, are characterised by
parallelism and by something closely resembling rhythms found in the
Old Testament. The most pertinent example is that attributed in
Moed Katan 25 b to an elegist (xnrps) on the death of Hanin who is
described as hxyWn ybd hyntH, which is interpreted by Levy (Neuheb.
Worterbuch, ii. 83 a) as meaning that Hanin was a son-in-law of R.
Juda Nasi. The elegy alludes to the fact that Hanin died on the day
that his son was born. It runs:--
vqbdn Nvgyv Nvww | hnphn hgvtl hHmw
xnynH dbx vtnynH tfb | hnxn vtHmw tfb
This may be rendered, tl;Lough the last lines are not free from ambiguity
(see Levy, loc. cit.) :
Joy was turned into weariness,
Gladness and sadness were united;
When his gladness came, he sighed,
When his favour came, he that was favoured, perished.
The parallelism is obvious; and the rhythm of the first distich is
3:3 (see below, p. 159 f.). Parallelism and rhythm are rather less con-
spicuous in another elegy cited at the same place, viz.:
rmHk qydc lf | wxr vfynh Myrmt
Mymyk tylyl Mywm lf | Mymyk tvlyl Mywn
The palm-trees shook their head
Over the righteous that was as a palm-tree (cp. Ps. xcii. 13).
(So) let us turn night into day (i.e. weep unremittingly)
Over him who turned night into day (in the study of the law).
Yet another elegy cited the same place contains the lines
ryq ybvzx vWfy hm | tbhlw hlpn Myzrxb Mx
If on the cedars the flame fell,
What can the hyssops on the wall do?