Now when a speech is merely in conformity with the principles and rules of the language, without having sweetness, beauty, polish, and embellishment, in the simple and complex forms, and is not free from superfluity or excessive brevity compared with the meaning intended to be conveyed, such a discourse is said to be merely grammatical; the man who essentially and constantly speaks in that manner is said to be a grammarian; and the power by which he speaks in that manner is called grammar. When the speech also has sweetness, beauty, polish, and embellishment, in the simple and complex forms, it is said to be rhetorical (it is derived from the expression: ‘How sweet are Thy words unto my palate!’[227] which signifies: how sweet and pleasant are they!); the author of such a speech is called a rhetorician, provided that this manner of speech is essential and constant with him; and the capacity which he has for such a speech is called rhetoric. If in addition to all these characteristics, the speech is also metrical, it is called a poem; its author is called a poet, provided this is essential and constant with him; and the capacity which he possesses for that is called poetry. By the word ‘metre’ I mean to say that the portions of the discourse are equal in the number of their vowels (thou already knowest about that). This is called a poem, because by means of the metre it is possible to sing it aloud. The term ‘poem’ has also been applied to anything that is to be understood allegorically, as, for instance, the Song of Songs, and others. The rhetorical discourses and poems of the Jews have a special characteristic which I have not seen or heard in the discourses and poems of other nations. The Jewish rhetoricians and poets add sweetness, beauty, and polish to their sentences by giving their rhetorical discourses and poems the form of the scriptural verses and of the sayings of the wise and by their endeavoring that that form should agree with the meaning of their discourses, either according to the plain meaning of the Bible, or according to some figurative application which they put into the discourse. It is the highest degree of elegance and beauty in rhetoric and rhetoricians when they make their discourses to be in harmony with, and add to them sweetness from, the divine speech. This is due to the circumstance that the Hebrew tongue is now deficient, as was explained, and therefore the rhetoricians, when they wish to render their discourses sweet and elegant, find it necessary to embellish and beautify them with the rhetorical expressions that exist. Accordingly, their loss is cancelled by their gain, and their deficiency turned to advantage. I have likewise noticed that the Jewish rhetoricians possess another peculiarity not shared by the rhetoricians of other nations: the knowledge of grammar comes to them naturally, and their discourses are always in conformity with the principles and rules of the science of