_Beneath three things the earth doth tremble, Yea beneath four it cannot bear up-- Beneath a slave become a monarch; Beneath a fool that is filled with meat; Beneath an old-maid that hath found a husband; Beneath a handmaid heir to her mistress_ (Pr. 30^{21-23}). FOUR STATELY THINGS. _There be three things of stately step, Yea, four of stately gait-- The_ LION, _that is the strongest beast, And flees before no foe; The ...; the_ HE-GOAT _too; And the_ KING, _when_ ...[19](Pr. 30^{29-31}). Simple as these riddles may be, they imply or make definite allusion to many things; a settled community, a king, an army trained and disciplined, economic foresight, dramatic changes in social rank, laws of natural inheritance, acute reflections on the fate of man and on human character--surely a picture too elaborate for pre-historic years? Certainly, and for these particular proverbs, no such claim is advanced: the lingering trace of a forgotten world is in their form, _numerical_ proverbs. Those just quoted are, as it were, links in a long chain, which we may follow backwards or forwards. The former process will lead to the result we seek; but first, for convenience and in further illustration, let us notice some, still later, examples of these proverbs. Two more are included in the Book of Proverbs, one of which will be quoted below (p. 51): here is the other. SEVEN HATEFUL THINGS. _There be six things Jehovah hates, Yea, seven which he abominates-- Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that innocent blood have shed, A mind devising wicked plans, Feet that be swift to do a wrong, A witness false declaring lies, And he who stirs up friends to strife_ (Pr. 6^{16-19}). Though cast in the same mould, this saying with its insistence on justice, truth, honesty of purpose and humility of spirit, certainly reflects a later and more complex stage of thought than the naïve conundrums quoted above from Pr. 30. Indeed, it may be no earlier than the third century, the golden age of proverb-making, to which period belongs also the following sentence from Ben Sirach’s book: _There be nine things that I have thought of and in my heart counted happy, and the tenth I will utter with my tongue_--_A man whose children give him joy: a man that liveth to see his enemies fall: happy is he whose wife hath understanding, and he that hath not slipped with his tongue, and he that hath not had to serve an inferior man: happy is he that hath found prudence: and he that discourseth in the ears of them that listen. How great is he that hath found wisdom! And above him that feareth the Lord is there none. The fear of the Lord surpasses all things; and he that holdeth it, to whom shall he be likened?_ (E. 25^{7-11}).[20]