Indigenous Races of the Earth

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126 TilE ART OF TilE SIIEMITES. the Black races, and merchants all along the shores of the Indian ocean. All these carriers of civilization never knew the feeling of plastic and pictorial beauty. Painting and sculpture were proscribed among the Hebrews a11d Arabs by the most sacred precepts of rcligion,97 whilst art never became national with the Phronicians; who bor­rowed its forms in turn from Egyptians, Assyrians and Greeks, and often relapsed into their original barbarism of taste. But before we subject Shcmitic art to a closer consideration, let us throw a glance on the p culial' civilization of that highly gifted race whose fortunes were always connected with the history of mankind, and whose culture modified Indo-European civilization repeatedly and in many respects. M. Ernest Ronan, in his llistory of the Shemitic languagcs,98 describes the character of tbe Shcmites in the most eloquent wonls, which, however, we must restrict in application to tho IIcbrcw and Arab tribes, inasmuch as they evidently are incomplete as regards the Phamicians and Syrians. Besides, we are bound to remind the reader that the auth.9r, carried away by the flow of his eloquence, is apt to over-state his case. We quote the following passage: "Without prodotcrmining the importn.nt question of the primitive unity or diversity of tho Arin.n and Shemitio ln.ngun.gcs, we must sn.y that, in the present state of science, tho Shemitio ln.nguages must be considered us corresponding to a distinct division of mn.nkind. In fn.ct, tho character of;' tho nations speaking them, is mn.rkod in history by as original fon.­tru ·es n.s tho ln.ngun.gos themselves, which served as a formu!(L n.nd boundn.ry to their mind. It is true thn.t it is less in politio(l,l th(Ln in religious lifo thn.t their influence ]J(l,S been felt. Antiquity shows them SC(Lrcely pln.ying any n.ctivo p(Lrt in tho groat conquests which. swept over Asia: tho civilization of Nineveh n.nd Dn.bylon, in its essential features, docs not belong to nations of thn.t race, and before tho powerful impulse given by a new creed to the Arab tribes, it would be in vain to sock the traces of any great Shemitio empire in history. Dut what they were unable to do in the sphere of external power they n.ccomplishcd in the moral sphere, and we may, without exaggeration, n.ttribute to them at least ono half of tho intelloQtual work of humanity. Of tho two symbols of tho mind striving for truth, scimct or pllilosophy remained entirely foreign to thorn; but thoy always understood religior1 with a superior instinct; they comprehended it, I may say, with a sense peculiar to themselves. Tho reflecting, independent, earnest, courageous, in one word tho philosophical research of truth, seems to bo the heir-loom of that Indo-European race, which, from tho bottom of India to tho oxtromo West and North, and from the !lJOSt remote ages to modern times, has alwnys sought to explain God, and mn.n, o.nd the world, by reasoning; and accordingly loft behind it-as landmarks of the different stations of its history-systems of philosophy, always and everywhere agreeing with the laws of a logical development. But to tho Shc­mitic race belong those firm and positive intuitions which removed at once the veil from Godhead, and without long reflection and reasoning reached the purest religious form 97 Exodue, xx., 4; Deuteron, V., 8:- Throughout Mohammed's Kur'tln these prohibi­tions abound. 118 lliBtoire glntrale et Systame comparl dee languee tlmitigue~. Ouvrage oouronn6 par l'Institut. lmprim6rie Imp6riale, 1855. Vol. i. p. 8, seqq. THE ART OF THE SIIEMITES. 127 antiquity ever know. The birthplace of philosophy is Indio. and Groooc, amidst an inquisi­tive moo, deeply preoccupied by the search after tho secret of all things; but tho psalm and tho prophecy, tho wisdom concealed in riddles and symbols, tho pure hymn, tho revealed book, are the inheritance of tho theocratic race of tho Shcmitos. '!'his is above all others tho pooplc of Godhead; it is tho pooplc of religions, destined to cron.tc them n.nd to carry them abt•o(Ld. And indeed, is it not romarkn.blo that tho three monotheistic religions, which until now have n.cted tho most important p(Lrt in tho history of civilizt\tion, tho throe religions marked by a peculiar character of duration, of fecundity and of proselytism, so thot·oughly iutod(Lcod with one another as to appeat· like three br(Lnchcs of the sn.mc tree, like thrco expressions uncqun.lly correct of tho sumo idea,- is it not remarkable, 1 repeat, tho.t all tho three were born among Shomilio nn.tions, nnd have stn.rtcd from among them to pursue their high destinies? Thoro is but a few dt1ys' journey from Jot·usalem to Mount Sinai, and from Sinai to Mecca. "'L'hc Shemitic race hn.s neither tho elevation of spiritualism known only to India and Gorm1~ny, no1· the feeling for measure and perfect betLUty bequeathed by Grecco to tho noo-Ln.tin nations, 11or tho delicate and deep sensitiveness chamcteri~tical of the Celts. Shcrnitic colJiscionco is oloar, but narrow; it wondot·fully understands unity, but cannot comprehend multiplicity. Monotheism sums up and oxpiLLins n.ll its features. "lt is tho gloq of the Shomitic race to have in hot· earliest dLLys n.rdvod at that notion of Godhead which all tho other nations had to adopt on her example ancl on tl1o faith of hor pron.clting. Sbo has never conceived tho government of tho world otherwise than as an absolute monarchy; her "Thcodicy" ho.s not advanced one single stop since the book of Job; tho grandeur and tho aberrations of Polytheism remained foreign to hor. No other raco oan of itself discover Monotheism; India, which has philosophized with so much originality tmd depth, has, up to our days, not gt•aspcd it; o.n<l all tho vi gout· of tho Uellenio Rpirit could not have sufficed to lend mankind to Monotheism without tho co-operation of tho Shemitos; but we can likewise state, thn.t the Shemitcs would not have ffi(l,storod tho dog­mo. of the unity of Godhen.d, had they not fouud its germ in tho most imperious instincts of their souls and of their hearts. They wore unn.blo to oonooivo vnrioty, plurality, or sex, in Godhead: tho word goddess would be tho most horrible barbt~rism in Hcbrew.oo All tho names by which tho Shemitcs ever designated Godb.oad: EL, I~ Lou, AnoN, DAAr,, ELION, SnAt>DAl, JllHOVAJI, ALLAn, oven if they take tho plum.! form, imply tho supromo indivisible power of perfect unity. Nature, on tho other hand, has little importn.ncc in Shemitic rcligions,­tho desert is monotheistic. Sublime in its immense uniformity, it revealed immodintoly tho idea of tuo infinite to men, but not tho incessantly productive life, which Nature, where she is more prolific, imparts to other n(Ltions. 1'his is tho reason why Ar(Lbia wo.s n.lways the bulwn.rk of tho most exalted monotheism; for it would be n. mistake to seek in Mohn.mmod tho founder of monotheism in Arab in.. The worship of tho Supremo God (Alla!l ta/Ua) was always at tho bottom of Arn.bian religion." "Tho Shemites nevo1· httd mythology. Tho clear and precise way in which they conceived Godhond as distinct from tho world, not begetting and not begotten, and having no like, excluded thn.t grn.nd poetry in which lndia, Porsin., Grecco [n.nd tho Teutonic mcos], gave vent to their imagination, leaving tho boundnrios botwoon God, m(Lukind, and nn.turo, unde­fined aud floating. Mythology is tho expression of pantheism in religion, and tbo Shcmitio spirit is the most antagonistic to pantheism. Whn.t n. distance between tho simple conccp-w The nuthor forgets, apparently, the goddesses of Syria n.nd Phoenicia, tho fomn.lo idols destroyell by the Arn.bs upon their conversion to Islt\m, and tho Shcmitio adoration of tho .Bootyles (Dcth-El), tho shn.polcss stones so often figured on coins. 'rhe blo.ck stone of the Kaabt~ belongs to tho same class, and reminds us nearly of Fetishism. [.l!'rt&SNEL, when consul at Djiddn., sent his sln.vc to Mcoct\, n.nd le!\rnod from him that, n.lthough tho pilgrims had ne!trly kissed off tho features, tho stone still preserves tho remains of a humo.n face l (lVm• Lettre, "Djeddob, Jan. 1888."-Journal A!ialique.)-G. R. G.]