“Bethink thee of thy fountain
In the days of thy youth.”
This perhaps gave rise to a theory that the shepherd lover was Solomon himself in disguise, like the god Krishna among the cow-maidens. It does not appear probable that any thought of that kind was in the writer of this Song. Certainly there appears not to be any purpose of lowering Solomon personally in enthroning Love above him. There is no hint of any religious or moral objection to him, and indeed throughout the work Solomon appears in a favourable light personally,—he is beloved by the daughters of Jerusalem (v. 10)—though his royal estate is, as we have seen, shown in a light not altogether enviable. Threescore mighty men guard him: “every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night,” and the day of his heart’s gladness was the day of his espousals (iii. 8, 11).
It is not improbable that there is an allusion to Solomon’s magic seal in the first lines of the hymn to Love (viii. 6). The legend of the Ring must have been long in growing to the form in which it is found in the Talmud, where it is said that Solomon’s “fear in the night” arose from his apprehension that the Devil might again get hold of his Ring, with which he (Aschmedai) once wrought much mischief. (Gittin. Vol. 68, col. 1, 2). The hymn strikes me as late Alexandrian:
“Wear me as a seal on thy breast
As a seal-ring on thine arm:
Its passion unappeasable as the grave;
Its shafts are arrows of fire,
The lightnings of a god. [Jah.]