On the other hand, Heinrich Heine,[434] and
other writers of his sort give us the spectacle of the tables completely
turned, and of Hebraism brought in just as a foil and contrast to
Hellenism, and to make the superiority of Hellenism more manifest. In
both these cases there is injustice and misrepresentation. The aim and
end of both Hebraism and Hellenism is, as I have said, one and the same,
and this aim and end is august and admirable.
Still, they pursue this aim by very different courses. The uppermost
idea with Hellenism is to see things as they really are; the uppermost
idea with Hebraism is conduct and obedience. Nothing can do away with
this ineffaceable difference. The Greek quarrel with the body and its
desires is, that they hinder right thinking; the Hebrew quarrel with
them is, that they hinder right acting. "He that keepeth the law, happy
is he";[435] "Blessed is the man that feareth the Eternal, that
delighteth greatly in his commandments";--[436] that is the Hebrew
notion of felicity; and, pursued with passion and tenacity, this notion
would not let the Hebrew rest till, as is well known, he had at last got
out of the law a network of prescriptions to enwrap his whole life, to
govern every moment of it, every impulse, every action.
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