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 ὑποτύπωσις, 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 poeticè tractata. In locum._ [43] Ὁ τῶν Ἰȣδαἱκῶν τραγωδιῶν ποιητἡς. _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.