Among the scholars who have discussed the _Eben Bochan_ may be mentioned Bartholocci, Wolf, Zunz, Geiger, Gross, Steinschneider, and Neubauer. It is pretty generally agreed that it was composed about the year 1324, that is to say, at a comparatively early period of the author's life. This theory is supported by the fact that it contains passages in which Kalonymos refers to his youth and unmarried state, and that its style is in many places marked by a singular freshness and vivacity which is seldom found in the writings of older men. The work is remarkable for its conciseness and epigrammatic force, and is further distinguished by the ingenuity with which Biblical and Talmudical phrases are woven into a kind of mosaic. It is somewhat similar in style to the _Bechînath Olam_, the author of which, Yedaya Bedaresi, was Kalonymos's contemporary. But while Bedaresi never failed to preserve the sternness and dignity peculiar to a moralizing philosopher, Kalonymos not infrequently relieved the seriousness of his narrative by flashes of humour and irony. He censures and ridicules the foibles of his Jewish contemporaries, but confesses at the same time, more in jest perhaps than in earnest, that he himself was not quite innocent of the same faults. One of the most humorous parts of the _Eben Bochan_ is that at which the author makes merry over his own misfortune in being born a male child of Jewish parents. For as such he has during all his lifetime to bear the heavy yoke of the six hundred and thirteen precepts (‪תרי״ג מצוות‬), together with various other Talmudical restrictions. The following free translation will give an idea of the author's style and mode of expression:— Oh, hapless sire, distraught with cares, Whose wife to him male children bears, For all of them, or rich or poor, Have only suffering to endure; This is caused by the Jewish creed, Whose yoke is hard to bear, indeed. Its many laws and regulations, Which are unknown to other nations, Every Hebrew must observe, With watchful eye, and straining nerve; E'en though he shares in public functions, He still must follow their injunctions, Which, I would tell you, have been seen To be six hundred and thirteen. But this is not the only feature, Which makes the Jew a hapless creature: For he must shun all jest and play, And brood o'er folios night and day, Mosaic and Rabbinic lore, And books, which he may think a bore. The Bible is not half enough: Glosses there are and other stuff, In which he erudite must be, Especially in theology, In all the Talmud may relate, In authors' quarrels and debate, In things particularly small, Of no significance at all.