CHAPTER II.
'TRUTH AND FICTION' IN AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
Let us now take a general survey of this strange book, regarding
it as a record of the conflicting moods and experiences
of a thoughtful man of the world. The author is too
modest to appear in his own person (at least in i. 1-ii. 12),
but, like Cicero in his dialogues, selects a mouthpiece from
the heroic past. His choice could not be doubtful. Who so
fit as the wisest of his age, the founder and patron of gnomic
poetry, king Solomon (1 Kings iv. 30-32)? After the preluding
verses, from which a quotation has been given above,
Ecclesiastes continues thus:—
I Koheleth have been[1] king over Israel in Jerusalem; and I
gave my mind to making search and exploration, by wisdom, concerning
all that is done under heaven; that is a sore trouble which
God hath given to the sons of men to trouble themselves therewith!
I saw all the works which are done under the sun; and behold, all
is vanity and pursuit of wind.
That which is crooked cannot be straightened,
and a deficiency cannot be reckoned (i. 12-15).
The name or title 'Koheleth' is obscure. According to the Epilogue 'Koheleth was a wise man' (xii. 9)—a statement which confirms the explanation of the name as meaning 'one who calls an assembly.'[2] The 'wise men' of Israel), which is rendered by him 'the Debater,' means rather a member of an assembly, than a teacher or preacher, and compares Ecclus. xxxviii. 33, where the son of Sirach says of labourers and artisans that they 'shall not sit high in the congregation,' i.e. in the ecclesia or academy of sages. But judging from the parallel line the 'congregation' is rather that of the people in general (comp. Ecclus. xx. 5). The Dean's]*
