The Song of Solomon : and the Lamentations of Jeremiah

io6 THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH
ship has been completely reversed. The reference must
be to Zedekiah and his courtiers.^ These proud princes
who formerly exercised command over the multitude
have become a shameful flock of fugitives. In the
expressive image of the poet, they are compared to
" harts that find no pasture " ; they are like fleet wild
deer, so cowed by hunger that they meekly permit
themselves to be driven by their enemies just as if
they were a herd of tame cattle.
In the middle of this comparison between the success
of the conquerors and the fate of their victims the poet
inserts a pregnant sentence which suddenly carries us
off to regions of far more profound reflection, touching
upon the two sources of the ruin of Jerusalem that lie
behind the visible hand of Nebuchadnezzar and his
hosts, her own sin and the consequent wrath of her
God. It flashes out as a momentary thought, and then
retires with equal suddenness, permitting the previous
current of reflections to be resumed as though unaffected
by the startling interruption. This thought will re-
appear, however, with increasing fulness, shewing that
it is always present to the mind of the poet and ready
to come to the surface at any moment, even when it
would seem to be inappropriate, although it can never
be really inappropriate, because it is the key to the
mystery of the whole tragedy.
Lastly, while the sense of a strong contrast is excited
objectively by a comparison of the placid security of
the invaders with the degradation of the fugitives,
subjectively it is most vividly realised by the sufferers
themselves when they call to mind their former happi-
ness. Jerusalem is supposed to fall into a reverie in
which she follows the recollection of the whole series
' Jer. xxxix. 4, 5.