His knowledge, however, does not seem to have been even empirically scientific. It consisted in the moral and religious illustration of truth by emblems derived from nature.[178] He surpassed, we are told, the ethnic gnomic wisdom of all the children of the East--the Arabians and Chaldæans, and all the vaunted scientific and mystic wisdom of Egypt.[179] Ethan and Heman were Levitic poets and musicians;[180] Chalcol and Darda[181] were "sons of the choir," _i.e._, poets (Luther), or sacred singers;[182] and all four were famed for wisdom; but Solomon excelled them all. Of his one thousand and five songs, the majority were probably secular. Only two psalms are even traditionally assigned to him.[183] Of his three thousand proverbs not more than two hundred survive, even if all in the Book of Proverbs be his. Tradition adds that he was a master of "riddles" or "dark sayings," by which he won largely in fines from Hiram, whom he challenged for their solution, until the Tyrian king defeated him by the aid of a sharp youth named Abdemon.[184] Specimens of these riddles with their answers may be found in the Book of Proverbs,[185] for the Hebrew word "proverb" (_Mashal_) probably means originally, an illustration. This book also contains various ambiguous hard sayings of which the skilful construction awoke admiration and stimulated thought.[186] The Queen of Sheba is said to have tested Solomon by riddles.[187] The tradition gradually spread in the East that Solomon was also skilled in magic arts, that he knew the language of the birds,[188] and possessed a seal which gave him mastery over the genii. In the Book of Wisdom he is made to say, "All such things as are either secret or manifest, them I know." Josephus attributes to him the formulæ and spells of exorcism, and in Eccles. ii. 8 the words rendered "musical instruments" (shiddah and shiddoth; R.V., "concubines very many") were understood by the Rabbis to mean that he was the lord over male and female demons.[189]