_Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, And look well to thy herds; For riches endure not for ever, Nor wealth to all generations. When the hay is carried and the tender grass springeth, When the grass of the mountains is gathered, Then the lambs will supply thee with clothing And the goats yield the price of a field, And give milk enough for thy household, Enough for the maintenance of thy maidens_ (Pr. 27^{23-27}). For the _horse_ see Pr. 26^{3}, E. 30^{8} and 33^{6}; of the _dog_, whom we shall meet again in the next chapter, there is a famous saying in _Eccles._ 9^{4}, _Better a living dog than a dead lion_. Among the _wild animals_, the lion (Pr. 30^{30}) and the bear enjoy the most fearsome reputation according to the proverbs--_The king’s wrath is as the roaring of the lion_ (Pr. 19^{12})--_As a roaring lion and a ranging bear, so is a wicked ruler over a poor people_ (Pr. 28^{15}). But there are worse things than either--_Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man rather than a fool in his folly_ (Pr. 17^{12})--_I will rather dwell with a lion and a dragon than keep house with a wicked woman_ (E. 25^{16}). The references to _conies_, _locusts_, and _lizards_ in Pr. 30^{26f} may be remembered (see p. 47). _Wine_, said the Wise, _goeth down smoothly, but_ (was there gout, or worse, in those days?) _at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder_ (Pr. 23^{32}), and the _serpent’s_ elusive track across the rock is mentioned in Pr. 30^{19}. Perhaps these references to snakes should have been placed at the head of a paragraph on _creeping things_. However that may be, one of the creeping things, being “exceeding wise” (Pr. 30^{24}), received an immortality in _Proverbs_: _Go to the ant, thou sluggard, Consider her ways and be wise_ ... (Pr. 6^{6}). Cannot one see a Sage in some leisure hour, bending down to watch the busy energetic little creature hurrying about its toil? And then--“Aha!” said he, “behold a proper scourge for lazy bones”! The one reference to _fishes_ makes one wonder whether the days of yore, like our own times, had their sea-serpent season. Says Ben Sirach, _They that sail on the sea tell of the danger thereof, And when we hear it with our ears we marvel. Therein be also those strange and wondrous works, Variety of all that hath life, the race of sea-monsters_ (E. 43^{24, 25}). The proverbs may lack something as a text-book for young scientists; yet here is the very essence of the fact of gravitation observed and duly noted: _He that casteth a stone on high casteth it on his own head_ (E. 27^{25}). Two or three features in what one may call civilised Nature, are worth recording here, although Man played the chief part in their appearing:-- A glimpse of a battlemented town: _A wise man scaleth the citadel of the mighty, And bringeth down its strong confidence_ (Pr. 21^{22}). Of great ships on the sea: