Another Stoic doctrine is that of the metabolism of the elements, “by the help of which the writer of part ii. endeavours to rationalize the miracles of the Exodus.... The metabolism of the elements at the end of part ii.,” says Holmes,[127] “is traced by E. Pfleiderer to Heraclitus, and to him directly, rather than indirectly through the Stoics, on account of the allusion in chapter xix. to three elements only—fire, water, earth—since Heraclitus recognized only three. But it is difficult to see how the author could have brought in the idea of air changing into anything else: water changes into earth in the passage through the Red Sea, and earth becomes water again to overwhelm the Egyptians; fire lost its power and was unable to melt the heavenly food; what need or opportunity was there for adducing the change of air into another element?... It must, no doubt, be admitted that the Book of Wisdom has points of connexion with the system of Heraclitus, who was highly esteemed in Alexandria, but whether directly or indirectly it is impossible to say.” The passage in question is xix. 18-21: For the elements changed their order one with another.... For creatures of dry land were turned into creatures of waters, And creatures that swim trode now upon the earth; Fire kept the mastery of its own power in the midst of water, And water forgat its quenching nature. Contrariwise, flames wasted not the flesh of perishable creatures that walked among them; Neither melted they the ice-like grains of ambrosial food, that were by nature apt to melt. Lastly, reference may be made to viii. 7, where we find a classification of the four cardinal virtues, which the Stoics copied from Plato: And if a man loveth righteousness, The fruits of Wisdom’s labour are virtues, For she teacheth _self-control_ and _understanding_, _righteousness_, and _courage_; And there is nothing in life more profitable than these. Most of the marks of Greek influence in this book have now been mentioned; it is probable enough that we have missed some, but we venture to think that the most important have been dealt with. SUMMARY There are not many direct references to the Greeks in the Old Testament; in a few scattered passages _Javan_, the Hebrew form for the land of the Ionians (i.e. Greeks), is found. Three interesting instances of variation from the Hebrew occur in the Septuagint; the word “Greek” being substituted for “Philistine” in one case, and “Hellenic sword” for “oppressing sword” in two others. These deliberate alterations were made because it was believed by the Greek translator that the real danger for the Jews lay in the spread of the Greek spirit. In the Book of Daniel a few Greek names of musical instruments have been adopted.