[222] It was said long ago that a great number of rhymed verses were found in the Bible, and Voltaire even has cited a ridiculous example in his _Dictionnaire philosophique_ (art. RIME): but it seems to me that before concerning oneself so much as one still does, whether the Hebraic text of the _Sepher_ is in prose or in verse, whether or not one finds there rhymed verses after the manner of the Arabs, or measured after the manner of the Greeks, it would be well to observe whether one understands this text. The language of Moses has been lost entirely for more than two thousand four hundred years, and unless it be restored with an aptitude, force, and constancy which is nowadays unusual, I doubt whether it will be known exactly what the legislator of the Hebrews has said regarding the principles of the Universe, the origin of the earth, and the birth and vicissitudes of the beings who people it. These subjects are, however, worth the pains if one would reflect upon them; I cannot prevent myself from thinking that it would be more fitting to be occupied with the meaning of the words, than their arrangements by long and short syllables, by regular or alternate rhymes, which is of no importance whatever. [223] Vossius, _De Poematum cantu et viribus rhythmi_; cité par J. J. Rousseau, _Dictionnaire de Musique_, art. RYTHME. [224] Nearly all of the Italian words terminate with one of four vowels, _a_, _e_, _i_, _o_, without accent: it is very rare that the vowels are accentuated, as the vowel _ù_. When this occurs as in _cità_, _perchè_, _dì_, _farò_, etc., then, only, is the final masculine. Now here is what one of their best rhythmic poets, named Tolomèo, gives as an hexameter verse: _Questa, per affeto, tenerissima lettera mando A te_ … To make this line exact, one feels that the word _mando_, which terminates it, should be composed of two longs, that is to say, that it should be written _mandò_, which could not be without altering the sense entirely. Marchetti has translated into blank verse the Latin poem of Lucretius. I will quote the opening lines. Here is evident the softness to which I take exception and which prevents them from being really eumolpique, according to the sense that I have attached to this word. _Alma figlia di Giove, inclita madre Del gran germe d’Enea, Venere bella, Degli uomini piacere e degli Dei: Tu, che sotto il volubili e lucenti Segni del cielo, il mar profundo, e tutta D’animai d’ogni specie orni la terra:_ ... etc.