The Song of Solomon : and the Lamentations of Jeremiah

THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH
the forlorn widow weeping for the loss of her children.
Neglected and humbled as she is in worldly estate,
the tragic vastness of her sorrow has exalted her to
an altitude of moral sublimity. Such suffering breaks
through those barriers of conventional experience which
make many lives look mean and trivial. It is so awful
that we cannot but regard it with reverence. But all
this is altered in the aspect of Jerusalem which follows
the confession of her great sin. In the freedom of
ancient language the poet ventures on an illustration
that would be regarded as too gross for modern litera-
ture. The limits of our art exclude subjects which
excite a sensation of disgust ; but this is just the
sensation the author of the elegy deliberately aims
at producing. He paints a picture which is simply
intended to sicken his readers. The utter humiliation
of Jerusalem is exhibited in the unavoidable exposure
of a condition which natural modesty would conceal at
any cost. Another contrast between the reserve of our
modern style and the rude bluntness of antiquity is
here apparent. It is not only that we have grown
more refined in language—a very superficial change
which might be no better than the whitewashing of
sepulchres ; over and above this civilising of mere
manners, the effect of Teutonic habits, strengthened by
Christian sentiments, has been to develop a respect for
woman undreamed of in the old Eastern world. It may
be added that the scientific temper of recent times has
taught us that there is nothing really dishonouring in
purely natural processes. The ancient world could not
distinguish between delicacy and shame. We should
regard a poor suffering woman whose modesty had
been grievously wounded with simple commiseration
the ancient Jews treated such a person with disgust
;