ii, p. 84.]
{p. 280}
The literary excellence of the work is of the highest order. Lowth
says:
"The antiquary, or the critic, who has been at the pains to trace the
history of the Grecian drama from its first weak and imperfect
efforts, and has carefully observed its tardy progress to perfection,
will scarcely, I think, without astonishment, contemplate a poem
produced so many ages before, so elegant in its design, so regular in
its structure, so animated, so affecting, so near to the true
dramatic model; while, on the contrary, the united wisdom of Greece,
after ages of study, was not able to produce anything approaching to
perfection in this walk of poetry before the time of ?schylus."[1]
Smith says:
"The debate rises high above earthly things; the way and will and
providential dealings of God are investigated. All this is done with
the greatest propriety, with the most consummate skill; and,
notwithstanding the expression of some erroneous opinions, all is
under the influence of a devout and sanctified temper of mind."[2]
Has this most ancient, wonderful, and lofty work, breathing the
spirit of primeval times, its origin lost in the night of ages,
testifying to a high civilization and a higher moral development, has
it anything to do with that event which lay far beyond the Flood?
If it is a drama of Atlantean times, it must have passed through many
hands, through many ages, through many tongues, before it reached the
Israelites.
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