[38] _His Works, tom. 1. page 24._

[39] _Job, Chap. i. v. 5._

[40] _The same, Chap. xxxi. v. 26, 27._

[41] _Job Chap. xxxii. v. 6._

But there subsists a dispute of a different nature between very grave
authors, and that is, whether this narrative be a fable or a true
history: If I were allowed to interpose my opinion, I would say, that
it is not a parable invented by [Greek: hypotyposis], but a dramatic
poem composed upon a true history; and perhaps with this design, that
from the example of this illustrious and upright, yet afflicted and
most miserable man, the people of Israel might learn to bear with
patience, all those evils and hardships, which they were daily
suffering in their Egyptian captivity. That this book is metrical, as
well as _David_'s _Psalms_, the _Proverbs_, _Ecclesiastes_, and
_Solomon_'s _Song_, is generally allowed: and the persons of the drama
are God, Satan, Job and his wife, his three friends, and Elihu.
_Wherefore it is_, says Grotius, _a real fact, but poetically
handled_.[42] Poetry was certainly a very ancient manner of writing,
and poets were wont to embellish true histories in their own way, as
we see in the most ancient among the Greeks and Romans. And among the
Hebrews likewise, long after the time above-mentioned, Ezechiel
comprised the history of the departure out of Egypt in a dramatic
poem; upon which account he is called by Clemens Alexandrinus, _the
poet of Judaic tragedies_.[43] Nor indeed, in my opinion, can there
be found, in this kind of writing, any thing more admirable, and
better adapted to move the passions than this piece; whether we regard
the sublimity and elegance of style, the description of natural
things, or in fine, the propriety of the characters ascribed to all
the persons concerned in it; all which circumstances are of the
greatest moment in a dramatic performance.

[42] _Est ergo res vere gesta, sed poetice tractata. In
locum._

[43] [Greek: Ho ton Ioudaikon tragodion poietes.] _Stromat.
book 1. p. 414 of the Oxford Edit. 1715._

... _Quo propius stes
Te capiet magis._

The nearer you behold,
The more it strikes you.

Before I close this chapter, it may not be improper to offer my
conjecture concerning the disease of this illustrious man. But
previous to this, it is proper to remark, that it is not Job himself,
or his friends, but the author of the book that attribute