er, of poetic sentiment and lyric beauties.
Often the rhythm rises to a high degree of excellence, even elevation.
Like Pensa, Zacuto was the disciple of great masters, and a comparison
of either with Lope de Vega and Calderon will reveal the same southern
warmth, stilted pathos, exuberance of fancy, wealth of imagery,
excessive playing upon words, peculiar turns and phrases, erratic style,
and other qualities characteristic of Spanish dramatic poetry in that
period.

Another century elapsed before the muse of the Hebrew drama escaped from
leading strings. Moses Chayyim Luzzatto (1707-1747) of Padua was a poet
of true dramatic gifts, and had he lived at another time he might have
attained to absolute greatness of performance. Unluckily, the
sentimental, impressionable youth became hopelessly enmeshed in the
snares of mysticism. In his seventeenth year he composed a biblical
drama, "Samson and the Philistines," the preserved fragments of which
are faultless in metre. His next effort was an allegorical drama,
_Migdal Oz_ ("Tower of Victory"), the style and moral of which show
unmistakable signs of Italian inspiration, derived particularly from
Guarini and his _Pastor Fido_, models not wholly commendable at a time
when Maffei's _Merope_ was exerting wholesome influence upon the Italian
drama in the direction of simplicity and dignity. Nothing, however,
could wean Luzzatto from adherence to Spanish-Italian romanticism. His
happiest creation is the dramatic parable, _Layesharim Tehillah_
("Praise unto the Righteous!"). The poetry of the Bible here celebrates
its resurrection. The rhythm and exuberance of the Psalms are reproduced
in the tone and color of its language. "All the fragrant flowers of
biblical poetry are massed in a single bed. Yet the language is more
than a mosaic of biblical phrases. It is an enamel of the most superb
and the rarest of elegant expressions in the Bible. The peculiarities of
the historical writings are carefully avoided, while all modifications
of style peculiar to poetry are gathered together to constitute what may
fairly be called a vocabulary of poetic diction."[59]

The allegory _Layesharim Tehillah_ is full of charming traits, but lacks
warmth, naturalness, and human interest, the indispensable elements of
dramatic action. The first act treats of the iniquity of men who prize
deceit beyond virtue, and closes with the retirement of the pious sage
to solitude. The second act describes the ho