(1) The first trace is to be found in the Numerical Sayings, a curious type of aphorism, half proverb and half riddle. Four of these occur in Proverbs 30.
Four Things Unsatisfied.
Three things there be unsatisfied,
Yea! four that say not “Enough”—
The land of death; the barren womb;
Earth unsated with water;
And fire that says not “Enough” (Pr. 3015b, 16).
Four Small Wise Things.
There be four things upon the earth small but exceeding wise:
The ANTS—a people little of strength, but in summer they store up food:
The CONIES—these be a feeble folk, but they make their homes in the rock:
The LOCUSTS—are they that have no king, but they march in an ordered host:
The LIZARDS—on which thou canst lay thine hand, though they dwell in his majesty’s court (Pr. 3024-28).
Four Things Unbearable.
Beneath three things the earth doth tremble,
Yea beneath four it cannot bear up—
Beneath a slave become a monarch;
Beneath a fool that is filled with meat;
Beneath an old-maid that hath found a husband;
Beneath a handmaid heir to her mistress (Pr. 3021-23).
Four Stately Things.
There be three things of stately step,
Yea, four of stately gait—
The LION, that is the strongest beast,
And flees before no foe;
The ...; the HE-GOAT too;
And the KING, when ...[19](Pr. 3029-31).
Simple as these riddles may be, they imply or make definite allusion to many things; a settled community, a king, an army trained and disciplined, economic foresight, dramatic changes in social rank, laws of natural inheritance, acute reflections on the fate of man and on human character—surely a picture too elaborate for pre-historic years? Certainly, and for these particular proverbs, no such claim is advanced: the lingering trace of a forgotten world is in their form, numerical proverbs. Those just quoted are, as it were, links in a long chain, which we may follow backwards or forwards. The former process will lead to the result we seek; but first, for convenience and in further illustration, let us notice some, still later, examples of these proverbs. Two more are included in the Book of Proverbs, one of which will be quoted below ([p. 51]): here is the other.