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 Semitic Nations, 
 
 BY 
 
 D. CHWOLSON, 
 
 ORD. PROF. AT THE IMP. UNIVERSITY or ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY EPH. M. EPSTEIN, M. D. 
 
 BLOCH A CO., PUBLISHERS AND PRINTERS, 
 CINCINNATI, O.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by BLOCH & CO. 
 in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
 
 STACK 
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS, 
 
 In studying the histories of different nations and re- 
 flecting upon their mental products, their endeavors, 
 aims and ideals, the question arises : Why has this or 
 that nation acted so and so and not otherwise, why has 
 it pursued such and such aims, why has it brought forth 
 such and such mental products, while another nation 
 acted altogether differently, strived after something alto- 
 gether different, and produced something altogether dif- 
 ferent '.' W herein lie the causes of these different and of- 
 ten opposite tendencies ? Accident this cannot be, for 
 there are no accidents. All that comes to pass, is a 
 necessary result of a foregoing cause. Shortsightedness 
 alone sees the reign of chance in small and, at times, 
 even in great events. Let us, who occupy ourselves with 
 historical studies, t. e. with the natural history of spirit- 
 ual man, follow the example of natural historians, who 
 inquire after the causes of every phenomenon, and hence 
 arrive at the establishment of general laws, of which 
 these phenomena are to be regarded as necessary results. 
 Contemplating thus more closely upon the varied phe- 
 nomena in the history of nations, we too, perhaps, may 
 succeed in discovering some general laws pertaining to 
 their varied characters, of which these historical phe- 
 nomena are to be regarded as their necessary results. 
 
 Wherein then lie the causes and motives of those he- 
 terogeneous actions and endeavors of the nations? 
 
 Some say, in Religion; this, they say, has put a defi- 
 nite stamp upon the character of every nation, and guid- 
 ed its actions. But this is not true, for two reasons. 
 
 THK LIBRARY 
 OF
 
 4 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 For in the first place we find, that one and the same re- 
 ligion produced different effects in different nations, and 
 in the second place we see, that one and the same relig- 
 ion assumed different forms in different nations. The 
 beneficent and ennobling influence of Christianity, was 
 by far the greater upon the so called barbaric northern 
 nations, than upon the cultivated nations of the ancient 
 world. Had not Christianity imparted a moral stamina 
 to those northern nations, they would have been morally 
 ruined and physically weakened as they advanced upon 
 the corrupted cultured countries of the south. It is 
 through Christianity, in preserving those nations morally 
 and physically, that our modern culture was made possi- 
 ble. But the influence of Christianity upon the cultured 
 nations of antiquity, was by far less beneficent, and al- 
 though it has not destroyed that ancient culture, as some 
 historians maintain, still has it certainly hastened the 
 fall of it, because the main principles of Christianity are 
 characteristically' antagonistic to the specifically heathen 
 culture of antiquity. The same can be said of Moham- 
 medanism and Buddhism, for these religions too have 
 exerted totally different influences upon different nations. 
 Every religion, which springs up in a civilized, or even 
 in a semi-civilized nation, is the product of a new form 
 of civilization ; represents always a new beneficent idea ; 
 but how a nation understands and practically utilizes 
 that new idea and form of civilization, depends chiefly 
 upon the character of the nation, which has accepted 
 this new religion. It is not merely the seed sown that 
 is of importance, but chiefly the soil in which it is put. 
 On the other hand we see also the same religion as- 
 suming among different nations a totally different form 
 and character, so that at times it seems incredible, that 
 one and the same idea should manifest itself in such dif- 
 ferent ways. I will not point out here the different 
 forms merely of Christianity in the Orthodox ( Greek,) 
 Catholic, Protestant, Nestorian, Jacobite, and Abyssi- 
 nian churches ; we see that one and the same form even, 
 assumed a different character among different nations. 
 The oriental orthodox church among the Slavic nations, 
 has a partially different character from what it has among 
 the Greeks ; the character of the Catholicism of Italy, 
 differs very much from the Catholicism of Germany, and
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 5 
 
 this again differs from that of France, and this lastly 
 differs from the Catholicism of the Spanish nation. So 
 Mohammedanism aUo assumed a totally different form 
 among the Persians fnun what it has done among the 
 Arahs. \Ve shall n-vert to this point again. On the 
 other hand we notice also, that similar religious tenden- 
 cies and institutions develop themselves among kindred 
 nations, who proless different religions, which are based 
 on different and even op|>osite principles. Of this we 
 will adduce striking examples further on. Religion, 
 therefore, though we admit its great influence uncondi- 
 tionally, does nevertheless not determine absolutely the 
 character of a people, but, on the contrary is itself modi- 
 fied and transformed by the views and innate inclina- 
 tions of the people professing that religion. t 
 
 L<iirx <nul xtafe irvftUutions, say others, have exerted 
 the greatest influence upon nations, and determined 
 their characters. Nations, they say further, develop 
 themselves differently in countries where we find liberal 
 institutions, and differently in countries where the free 
 movement and self-direction of the individual is hemmed 
 in by restrictive regulations ; and lastly they say, the de- 
 velopment of a nation is different in autocratic, in con- 
 stitutional and republican states. But at the basis of 
 this assumption, there is a confounding of effects with 
 their causes. It is just the very question : Why have 
 such and such laws and state institutions developed them- 
 selves in one nation, and other and even opposite ones in 
 another nation ? Why has a mighty aristocracy formed 
 itself in one nation, a democracy in another, a state au- 
 tocracy in one, a tightly drawn centralization in another, 
 restrictive laws in one, and perfect freedom of the indi- 
 vidual in the other? We observe here too the same phe- 
 nomenon, which we did in religion, viz., that the same 
 laws and state institutions which are productive of the 
 happiest effects in one nation, may conduce to the utter 
 destruction of another nation. Do we not see that those 
 very free institutions, which brought the Anglo-saxou 
 race to the highest flourishing state, served the Spanish 
 race only to its destruction, and resulted in confusion 
 and anarchy? Thus we see that the autonomy, which in 
 one nation promotes the prosperity of the individual and 
 establishes a true freedom, only multiplies tyrrany and
 
 6 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 arbitrary rule in another nation. Here too then, the im- 
 portant point is chiefly the soil, in which the seed was 
 sown. 
 
 Another erroneous assumption was advanced more re- 
 cently, and has found many adherents. It was maintain- 
 ed, that the climate, the constitution of soil, and the geo- 
 graphical situation of countries have conditioned and de- 
 termined the lot and the actions of their nations. The 
 chief promulgator of this view, is the well-known Eng- 
 lishman Buckle, whose doctrines were regarded in a 
 measure as a new scientific revelation. This doctrine has 
 apparently much in its favor, but is nevertheless, accord- 
 ing to my conviction, fundamentally false. It is evident 
 enough, that inhabitants of an inland country can not be- 
 come navigators, but that those of a coast or island will 
 become sucn, more or less; that inhabitants of a widely 
 extended plain, where there are no minerals and no mines, 
 will betake themselves to cattle raising and lead a no- 
 madic life, while the inhabitants of mountain regions 
 will adopt a more settled life; that finally the self-pre- 
 serving instinct will drive the inhabitants of a cold and 
 unfruitful land to activity, while the South sea islander, 
 who can satisfy his wants with a few easily gotten fruits, 
 will spend the best part of his life in idleness. But this 
 is only appearance and deception, the result of confound- 
 ing the mode how the character of a nation manifests it- 
 self, with the real character of the same ; for climate, soil, 
 and geographical situation of countries, are only condi- 
 tions of the way in which the character of a nation mani- 
 fests itself; nay, they even impart to the character its pe- 
 culiar individual stamp, but they do not create that char- 
 acter. 
 
 Navigation does not form the character of the 
 English people, but is only a mode, a manifestation of the 
 enterprising spirit, which characterizes that people. If 
 Englishmen lived in an inland country, they would mani- 
 fest their enterprising spirit in a different way. English- 
 men and North Americans are active and enterprising in 
 South America and the South sea islands; but South 
 Americans and South sea islanders would be as lazy in 
 England and North America as they now are. What 
 was said here, can be demonstrated by countless instances, 
 where different nations inhabited successively the same
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 7 
 
 country and played quite different parts in the history of 
 the world. Take Egypt as an example. This elongated 
 narrow strip of land, closed in by deserts on the east and 
 west, anil traversed by a mighty stream, presents by its 
 situation, its immense fertility, and its yearly recurring 
 innundation, a decidedly expressed physiognomy which is 
 peculiar to itself; and yet, what a neavenwide difference 
 between the Pharaonic and the Mohammedan Egyptians ! 
 What a prosperity, what a power, what an enterprise, 
 and what a high development of the arts in its days of 
 yore, and what a misery, what a poverty, and what an 
 insignificance in its later days ! What have the ancient 
 Egyptians not done in culture and art, and what have the 
 Egyptians of the Caliphs, the Alides, the Mamelukes and 
 the Turks done, invented or accomplished? The form- 
 er have built the pyramids, those astounding structures, 
 the objects of admiration for thousands of years; they 
 created mighty works of art, channeling the whole land ; 
 invented the art of writing, studied astronomy, mathe- 
 matics, and medicine; the later Egyptians plundered the 
 pyramids and the magnificent graves of the ancient 
 kings, destroyed the works of architecture and art, 
 neglected the canalization of the land, and studied the 
 Koran and its commentaries ! 
 
 A little further north of Egypt, there lived a small na- 
 tion on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, who 
 owned a small strip of land, not larger than about fifty by 
 a half or one miles, and how great was that small nation? 
 Its industry was the vastest one of antiquity, its ships 
 plowed all the then known seas, and its colonies and mer- 
 cantile stations extended from India to the Atlantic coast, 
 and from southern Arabia to the Caucasian mountains. 
 Its fleets often vied with those of Greece in its prime, 
 and in the ranks of its armies were found Persians from 
 the distant east, as well as men from Asia minor and 
 Africa. We speak here of the Phoenicians, whose mer- 
 chants the prophets call "Princes" and " the honorable 
 of the land." But, yes, says some one, the Phoenicians 
 had nothing to eat in their small land, and so were com- 
 iKilled to seek their subsistence by means of navigation. 
 To this we answer : that neither have the Mohammedan 
 inhabitants of that land, in later times, enjoyed any too 
 great abundance of food, and yet they stayed at home,
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 and rather preferred to study their Mohammedan tradi- 
 tions concerning the relation of their prophet Mohammed 
 to hi.s numerous wives and female slaves, or busied them- 
 selves with questions of similar import. 
 
 Almost on the very spot where once Carthage was, 
 stands now Tunis, but where are now the Tunensian 
 Hannibals, Hasdrubals, and Hamilcars? Where are now 
 the Tunensian fleets, which made the Mediterranean in- 
 stinct with life? Lastly, where are now the Tunensian 
 armies, who traversed the Alps, and brought mighty 
 Rome frequently to the brink of destruction? All these 
 exist no longer on the soil of ancient Carthage; but in- 
 stead of these, there is a pitiable Bey, who does not 
 Say his debts, and whose Hannibals and Suffets study 
 iligently Beidhawis' commentary on the Koran, or learn 
 by rote the Arabic grammar composed in verse by Ibn 
 Malik. 
 
 One more example: The ancient Phoenicians settled 
 early in Spain, founded there a mighty colony, whence 
 their war-fleets, their armies, and colonies were sent out 
 in all directions. Of their vast mining operations we 
 have yestigesyet to this day. The old Basques in Spain, 
 were brave, obstinate, and self-willed, as they are to this 
 day, and although not altogether without culture, still 
 have they not accomplished anything near that, which 
 their neighbors the Phoanicians have. Later on, there 
 lived in Spain the Goths and the Arabs together; yet 
 how different was the degree of culture, the mental and 
 religious tendencies of these two nations, while they have 
 yet lived together, and even after the former expelled 
 the latter from the land. Yes, it is Spain, which offers 
 the most striking evidence of the futility of that theory, 
 that climate and soil have a decided influence upon the 
 inhabitants of a country. No land in Europe, says 
 Buckle, is so like the tropics as Spain. But, says he, 
 there prevails in that land a mode of regarding nature, 
 which inflaming the fancy of men, promotes their super- 
 stition and frightens them away from investigating such 
 threatening phenomena, in other words prevents them 
 from the creation of science. No other part of Europe, 
 he says farther, is so designed by nature to become the 
 seat and refuge of superstition as Spain. In reference to 
 this assertion, a man of genius and deep thought, Geiger,
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 9 
 
 asked some years ago already: " How does it happen, 
 that that same Spain, which according to Buckle, must 
 by a natural necessity fall very low, should in spite of its 
 droughts and earthquakes and enfeebling heat, yet have 
 flourished so highly under the Arabs? While science 
 and arts were almost wholly banished in the Middle 
 Ages from its neighboring kingdoms, they found their 
 richest cultivators just in Spain; cheerful poetry and 
 deeply penetrating keen research exalted the soul, force 
 and grace ennobled industry, and everything that pro- 
 moted the .welfare of society found there the greatest care. 
 Mohammedans and Jews distinguished themselves by lof- 
 tiness and clearness of spirit, and even kindled many a 
 spark in Christian Spaniards, etc. After the Moors were 
 banished from Spain, then its former flourishing agricul- 
 ture fell to decay, so that entire tracks of country, which 
 were formerly in the most flourishing condition, became 
 almost total deserts, and are even so in part to this day. 
 With the expulsion of the Jews from bpain, there van- 
 ished industry, commerce, and enterprise, so that many 
 cities became insignificant and uninhabited. Yes, this 
 expulsion of the Jews, was in part the cause of the moral 
 decay of the country; for the high rise of Spanish litera- 
 ture in the fifteenth century, originated for its greatest 
 part from the Jews, who in consequence of the terrible 
 persecutions at the end of the fourteenth century, went 
 over in masses to Christianity, and, according to the 
 Spanish literary historian Amados del Rios, brought 
 Spanish literature to its highest state of prosperity. Nay 
 more, after the departure of the Jews from Spain, there 
 were entire districts without any physician, so that peo- 
 ple were obliged to invite physicians from abroad and 
 pay them high annual salaries. How then does it hap- 
 pen, that of two races, who lived under the very same 
 climatic conditions, the one should distinguish itself in 
 art, |>oetry, and science, and the other should equally 
 distinguish itself in mental stupidity, narrow mindedness 
 and laziness-? The causes of this mental difference can 
 evidently not lie in the climate, soil, and geographical sit- 
 untion of the country, but must be sought somewhere else. 
 Where then do the determinative causes lie, in conse- 
 quence of which, one nation, under given conditions, be- 
 comes so and so cultivated, acts so and so under given
 
 10 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 circumstances, while another nation, under equal con- 
 ditions and circumstances becomes differently cultivated 
 and acts differently? In order to answer this question, 
 we will pursue the path of natural historians, who main- 
 tain, that the whole can not be understood before the in- 
 dividual parts are examined and thoroughly searched 
 through. Let us, therefore, turn our look away from the 
 nations, and direct it to the single individuals of them. 
 
 Not only individual nations, but individual men too, 
 differ in their views, conceptions, moral inclinations and 
 actions. This we have occasion to observe daily, and 
 here too the question, why is it so, is perfectly justifiable. 
 In times past it was believed by some, that man comes 
 into the world a perfect tabula rasa, and that it were pos- 
 sible to make any thing you please of him by education. 
 There is no need of bringing up evidences against the 
 radical falseness of this view. We meet daily with in- 
 dividuals, who have enjoyed the best education, who have 
 had the best of examples before them, yet who have 
 turned out the most vicious reprobates, and on the other 
 hand, the instances are frequent also, of persons, who 
 have had no education, or a very bad one, and who had 
 bad examples before them, and who have turned out to 
 be excellent and virtuous individuals. Religion, climate, 
 education, and social standing can certainly not explain 
 these phenomena ; for we observe those differences taking 
 place among the different members of the same family, 
 who live together. Religion, climate, etc., are, therefore, 
 only the conditions of the form, by which the character 
 of the individual manifests itself outwardly. The main 
 thing is, the inborn character of the individual, which to a 
 certain degree can, indeed, be mollified and modified but 
 can not be either created or destroyed by any thing. 
 
 With the same character, with which the individual 
 human being is born, with the same he descends into the 
 grave. The kindly disposed does not become ill-disposed, 
 the judicious does not become thoughtless, the firm does 
 not become instable, the stingy does not become benevo- 
 lent, etc. By education one may acquire knowledge, 
 good or bad views and opinions and prejudices, which 
 will of course have their influence upon his actions, but 
 his native character and inclinations, these can not 
 change essentially. Age and education may, indeed,
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 11 
 
 soften and modify also, to an extent, this or that trait of 
 the character, but it itself they can not radically recon- 
 struct. Social position may exert an influence upon the 
 way how the character manifests itself externally, but by 
 no means can it change that character itself; for when 
 the man of the lower class practices his cheating in the 
 second-hand shop, or when he of the middle class swin- 
 dles on the exchange, or as a director of a bank, or when 
 he of the upper class, as governor of a province, or head 
 of a cabinet, falsifies public opinion, deceives his mon- 
 arch by false representation, then all these three do one 
 and the same thing essentially, only under different forms, 
 which are conditioned by their different social positions. 
 It is therefore, ridiculous to exhort the vacillating to be 
 firm and persevering, the thoughtless to be thoughtful, 
 or the coward to be courageous, as absurd as to exhort 
 the fool to be wise. The character of a man, whatever 
 it be, can as little change itself into its opposite, as the 
 lion can change itself into a horse, yet, we hear it often 
 said, that a man should be master of himself; this in- 
 deed he should be, if he can. But the weak individ- 
 ual can as little do this, as a child can lift a heavy bur- 
 den. It isrsaid often, indeed, that this or that man was 
 formerly a mean reprobate, but has changed now, reform- 
 ed, and became a very excellent and noble man. But 
 this is not true, this happens only in novels and plays, 
 not in real life, for the mean and reprobate man never 
 becomes noble or excellent. But this indeed may come 
 to pass, that a man of a dependent character, may by 
 associating with bad men, be led to wickedness, and then 
 again by associating with good and moral men, be led 
 back to virtue ; so also another man, whose actions are 
 the results of false and demoralizing doctrines and views, 
 may be reformed by proper instruction. 
 
 We see, therefore, that the actions of men are deter- 
 mined chiefly by their native characters and inclinations, 
 ami that all other circumstances either have only a sub- 
 ordinate influence upon them, or operate only upon the 
 manner how the human character shows itself externally. 
 But a nation consists of single individuals, and who will 
 deny, that every nation has a character peculiar to itself, 
 more or less sharply pronounced. What is a nation but 
 a great collective individuality. But every race too coii-
 
 12 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 sists of a variety of individual nations and no one will 
 dispute, that there are characteristic traits which are pe- 
 culiar to entire groups of nations and races. That one 
 nation should have acted so and so, and altogether differ- 
 ently from what another one did, that the bent of mind 
 of one nation should totally differ from that of another, 
 these all proceed from the native character and inclina- 
 tions of the individual nation. All depends upon the 
 preponderance in that nation of the mind over the heart, 
 or upon the equipoise of these ; upon its intellectual endow- 
 ment or the want of it, upon its thoughtfulness or its 
 levity, upon its love of order or negligence, its persever- 
 ence and patience, or its vacillation and fickleness, upon 
 its enterprise or its inertness, etc. These good or bad 
 qualities of the nations, always determined their moral 
 and material actions, and conditioned their several places 
 in the history of the human race. All other circum- 
 stances had, indeed, their influence, but subordinately 
 only, and determined, as above said, chiefly the mode of 
 the phenomena. And when individual great men have 
 accomplished great things, and have transformed their 
 nations, they could do it, only because they had good 
 material to work upon, because that material Was capable 
 of being formed at all. With a nation of Hottentots, 
 neither Alfred nor Peter the Great could have achieved 
 for their states a historic importance. The best of wheat 
 can not. thrive in a sandy soil. 
 
 The character of a nation is as immutable as is that of 
 an individual ; the main characteristic traits of the 
 modern nations, were peculiar to their ancestors a thou- 
 sand and even two thousand years ago. The following 
 sketch of the character of a certain nation, which 1 will 
 not yet name, is given by a spiritual historian : " In its 
 individual communities there is a want of harmony, of 
 firm government, of an earnest sense of citizenship, and 
 of consequential endelvor ; the only order which they 
 brook is the military, whose disciplinary fetters dispense 
 the individual from the heavy burden of self-restraint. 
 Its prominent qualities are : personal courage, a tree, 
 impetuous mind, open to any impressions, much intelli- 
 gence, but at the same time extreme mobility, want of 
 perseverance, opposition to discipline and order, boast- 
 fulness and perpetual contention as consequences of inor-
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 13 
 
 dinate vanity. Two things this nation holds in great es- 
 teem, viz., fighting and esprit, (wit.) Every thing this 
 nation can turn into the service of fame, even a wound, 
 which is frequently enlarged after it is received, so 
 that it could be boasted of with its greater scar. Of 
 duelling too they are especially fond," 
 
 Who might this people be who are thus described ? 
 
 Is it not the French nation? Yes, and also no! 
 
 The dr>rription is that of the Gauls of the time of Ca- 
 millus and Julius Caesar, and yet how admirably apt too 
 of the modern Frenchmen ! The ancient Gauls had to be 
 sure, not yet had, that organized imperially patented de- 
 mocracy, no such well-appointed secret police, no men- 
 dacious official press as their posterity the modern French 
 have had them until lately, through the grace of an ad- 
 venturer, and which, though in a different form, they are 
 bound soon to have again. But these Frenchmen would 
 not have been blessed with those good things, were they 
 not in many respects, even to this day, alike to their an- 
 cestors, the Gauls. 
 
 Let us look again at Spain. Does it not seem, that 
 Ferdinand the Catholic and his successors, in their en- 
 deavors to exterminate every kind of heresy from Spain, 
 only desired to continue the actions of the Gothic kings 
 Reccared, Sisebut, Chintilla, Receswinth, etc. etc. ? Does 
 it not seem that those began just there where these end- 
 ed, that they were their immediate successors ? And yet 
 there is a space of 800 years between them, years of most 
 arduous and bitter conflicts with a foreign faith and a 
 foreign people, who have conquered the whole country 
 nearly, and who established there a new culture and a 
 new civilization, which has had its influence upon the 
 Spaniards too. 
 
 When we turn to the East, we find there a people, who 
 in its sacred Scriptures was incessantly admonished 2500 
 years past not to lie; this people, who needed that admo- 
 nition very much, has mingled itself since that time with 
 Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and Mongolians, has also accepted 
 other religions, and yet it is to this day the most menda- 
 cious of all the nations of the entire East. We speak 
 here of the ancient and modern Persians. Did not Cam- 
 byses rage against the temples and gods of the ancient 
 Egyptians, did not Xerxes destroy the temples and altars
 
 14 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 of the Greeks, was not the war of Darius Hystaspes 
 against his predecessor, the Magian Sautaraa, of a relig- 
 ious nature? And to this day, the Persians are far more 
 fanatical than their co-religionists the Arabs. 
 
 If therefore the character of a nation in its main fea- 
 tures remains constant for hundreds and even thousands 
 of years, what is then more natural, than that the actions, 
 the moral tendencies, and mental products of nations 
 should be determined by their innate natural traits and 
 inclinations? That which we perceive daily to be the 
 case with single individuals, is true also of individual 
 nations, and that which determines the lot of the indi- 
 vidual human being, determines also that of entire 
 groups of nations and races. 
 
 We thought necessary, to make these, perhaps too 
 lengthy, introductory remarks, because the ideas herein 
 maintained, to which I myself and others too have ar- 
 rived through original studies and observations, are not 
 yet generally acknowledged, and have but recently begun 
 to make their way in the world. But since the character 
 of the Semitic nations, as we conceive of it, is to be the 
 means by which we would explain the material and mor- 
 al actions of this group of nations, it was, therefore, nec- 
 essary to point out at first, where the source and key for 
 the explanation of those phenomena are to be sought. 
 
 A celebrated historian asserted, that the nations, who 
 dwelled around the basin of the Mediterranean Sea, were 
 to be regarded as the representatives of ancient history. 
 And I would further say, that eo far as that, which we 
 usually call "General History," is concerned, its repre- 
 sentatives are three races mainly : the Indo-European, or 
 more briefly the Aryan, then the Semitic, and lastly the 
 Ural-Altaic races. Of the last there is little to say ; that 
 race destroyed much and built up little; it lived upon 
 other people's expenses, and produced nothing itself. 
 Neither has it widened the moral horizon of the nations 
 by any new ideas nor has it enriched the material welfare 
 of mankind by any new inventions. Individual groups 
 of this race, as the Turks and the Hungarians, have pro- 
 gressed as far as the formation of an elementary state, 
 with a royal idol at its head, who was either the repre- 
 sentative of a boundless despotism, or of a most dis- 
 gusting stupidity and slothfulness. When they were in-
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 15 
 
 cited by any impulse, then they fell with the tempestu- 
 ous rage of destroying locusts upon the nations of culture, 
 exercised cunning and unheard of refined cruelties, and 
 destroyed the spiritual and material works of many cen- 
 turies. When their rage exhausted itself, then they were 
 either absorbed by the nations whom they conquered, or 
 they formed a certain kind of a habitation for them- 
 selves, where they suffered that cultivated other nations 
 should bring to them the elements of culture and civili- 
 zation, things which they sometimes appropriated. To 
 themselves, humanity owes no thanks, they have done 
 much harm, and very little what was useful ; it may be, 
 that like epidemics they cleared the atmosphere of some 
 pestiferous materials. Other groups of this race, like the 
 Finnic, have not even succeeded in the formation of any 
 state, and remained perfectly passive in the history of the 
 human race. 
 
 The real and main representatives of the Cultur ra- 
 ces are the Aryans and Semites, both of whom are the 
 makers of our history. There were, indeed, some centers 
 of culture before these two races appeared in history, as 
 e. g. Egypt and the land where the cuniform writing was 
 invented; perhaps also Jewish Chaldea, centers of culture, 
 which are designated by the uncertain name of Hamitic*; 
 but the influence of that culture upon our history is only 
 a mediate one, while the actions of those two races are 
 operating on us vitally to this day, and their activity has 
 not come to a close yet. 
 
 The Aryan race embraces a great number of individ- 
 ual groups of Nations, disseminated from India over 
 Persia, the Caucasus, through entire Europe to the west- 
 ern coast of Iceland, and now all over America. This race 
 consists chiefly of the following national groups : the In- 
 dian, the Iranian, the Minor-Asiatic-Caucasian, the Gre- 
 cian or Pelasgian, the Italian or Romanic, the Germanic, 
 the Slavic and the Celtic. The degree of consanguinity be- 
 tween these groups varies, and equally so also does the 
 historical importance of each one of them, so that one is 
 apt to accord the rights of primogeniture to one or the 
 other group exclusively, because it has acquired the entire 
 moral wealth of its race for itself, and left its brethren to 
 go out empty. 
 
 Every one of these groups are again divided into many
 
 16 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 nationalities, every one of which had found a different lot 
 and a different position in history. Nay, it even happen- 
 ed, that an individual tribe of a nation became specially 
 prominent by dint of intellectual excellencies and talents, 
 as e. g. the Ionian tribe among the Greeks, and the tribe 
 of Latium among the Italics. 
 
 The Grecian people, by virtue of its pre-eminent spirit 
 as well as energy of character, occupies the chief place 
 in this race. We find the great talents of this people 
 distributed among the Indian and Italic groups, the for- 
 mer distinguishing itself in mental qualities, the latter in 
 energy of character. Other groups of the same race made 
 their historic appearance subsequently, and building upon 
 the culture of their predecessors, they became the repre- 
 sentatives of a new civilization and remained as such. 
 Other groups of this race have but lately woke up from 
 their historic slumber, and are perhaps destined to be- 
 come the founders of the civilization of the future. 
 
 The Semitic race presents no such variegated picture as 
 that which the Aryan race does. It does not separate in- 
 to so many national groups, and the relation of its nations 
 to each other in point of language, is that which the na- 
 tions of the individual Aryan groups bear to each other. 
 
 The geographical dissemination too of the Semitic race 
 is by far less than that of the Aryan race ; but for that 
 the Semites formed themselves into compact masses in 
 their habitations, which were little or not at all interrupt- 
 ed by foreign nations. This race divides into the follow- 
 ing groups : 
 
 (1.) The Southern, or Arabian Group. This again 
 subdivides into the South-Arabian, or Himiaric Group, 
 (to which the Abyssinians too may be counted,) and into 
 the Middle or North Arabian Group. (2.) The second of 
 these groups is formed by the Middle- Semitic or Canaani- 
 tic, whose chief representatives are the Hebrews and 
 Phoenicians, whose languages differed only dialectical ly. 
 (3.) Ihe third group is formed by the Northern or Ara- 
 maic, which occupied Syria, the north of Mesopotamia, 
 and no doubt some of the eastern provinces of Asia Mi- 
 nor. (4.) The fourth group, which some include in the 
 third, but as I think unjustly, I would denominate, the 
 Eastern-Semitic or Assyro-Babylonian, which in some 
 part, at least, was intermixed with an ancient non-Semi- 
 tic nationality.
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 17 
 
 The talents too of this race, like those of the Aryan 
 race, were unequally distributee^ but there were no senior 
 lords among them, who took possession of ail, and left 
 nothing tor their juniors, for all of its group* played a 
 greater or smaller part in human history, and none of 
 them hibernated historically. An exception to this are the 
 Abyssinians, among whom, however, an extensive admix- 
 ture of Negro blood semi.- to have taken place. 
 
 As the Greeks distinguished themselves among the 
 Aryans, so have the ancient Hebrews among the Semites, 
 and that by great gifts of mind and heart, as well as by 
 their idealism, so that the greatest part of humanity be- 
 came instructed and enlightened and led on to a higher 
 degree of perfection by their scriptures and doctrines. 
 Next to the Hebrews, their neighbors the Phoenicians, 
 distinguished themselves by great energy of character and 
 enterprise. Everyone of the other Semitic groups had 
 their own peculiar excellencies, but the Arameans seem 
 partly to have occupied the last place among them. 
 
 We can now approach our main task directly, and 
 >keteh the characteristic features of the Semitic nations. 
 About fifteen years ago, a man of great talent and high: 
 philosophic and historic culture undertook the same 
 thing, and in one of his chief works drew the picture of 
 the Semitic nations ; we mean here Kenan and his char- 
 acterization of the Semites, in the beginning of his still 
 excellent book, in spite of some of its defects, entitled 
 " Histoire generale et systeme compare des langues Sem- 
 itiques." This book written with French elegance, 
 masterly clearness, and almost German thoroughness, 
 found in Germany too a great circulation. His character- 
 ization of the Semites was almost universally acknowledged 
 as the only true one, so that in looking into any book, 
 which treated about the Semites, the words of Kenan are 
 met with in a rechewed condition ad nauseum. The only 
 opponents, which Kenan met with were those, who have 
 made a specialty of the languages, literatures, and history 
 of the Semites. This comparatively small company, but 
 whose opinion in this matter is of the greatest import- 
 ance, expressed themselves ab initio in opposition to Ke- 
 nan, a thing which the writer of these lines too did both 
 orally and in writing. 'In consequence of this contradic- 
 tion from competent judges, Kenan wrote a little time af-
 
 18 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 ter this: "Xouvelles consideration sur le earactere general 
 des pen pies Semitiques, et en particulier sur leur tendance 
 au monotheisme," in which he modifies his views about 
 the Semites on some points, and deals here more justly 
 with them than he does in his above mentioned work. 
 But this later composition of Renan, published as it was 
 in a Specialist's journal, remained almost unknown to the 
 public at large, while his former work was extensively 
 circulated. But as no house can be built on a place where 
 another is already standing, I must before giving my own 
 sketch, express myself concerning Kenan's characteriza- 
 tion of the Semites, which on account of its general circu- 
 lation and the illustrious name of its author must not be 
 ignored. 
 
 We have already acknowledged our respect for Re- 
 nan's great talents and versatility of knowledge, but in 
 that one quality, which is indispensable for a historian, 
 viz., perfect religions impartiality, he is at times deficient. 
 He was educated in an ecclesiastical seminary, and it is 
 told that hopes were entertained of his becoming a pillar 
 of the Catholic Church. It is well known that he did 
 not become that, but the very reverse, and it is, therefore, 
 not easy for him to be perfectly unbiased in treating of 
 religious questions; since, therefore, the Semites are the 
 well known founders of the three positive religions, he 
 approached the consideration of this race not altogether 
 without prejudice. In consequence of this, perhaps un- 
 conscious, prejudice, Renan preformed his judgment con- 
 cerning the Semites, and estimated certain phenomena of 
 this race in accordance with false preconceptions. In 
 passing judgment on an entire race, one can not give a 
 true picture of it by giving prominence to certain charac- 
 teristic features of one and another of its nations. Only 
 such characteristic features must be found out in that 
 ease, which are common to all the representatives of that 
 race. Renan did not do so, but collected those salient 
 features of now one and then another Semitic nation, 
 which fitted into his system ; but those features of charac- 
 ter which would not fit in there he tries to get rid of as 
 best he can. Let us see now how he characterizes this race. 
 
 The Semitic race, he says, is a "ranee inferieure," which 
 stands far below the Aryan. He ascribes moreover to 
 the Semites an "absence de complexite des nuances," and
 
 THE SEMITIC NATION-. 19 
 
 then "sentiment exclusif de 1'unite." The Semites were 
 incapable of grasping diversity and multiplicity, and 
 have, he think-;, therefore, arrived instinctively at Mo- 
 notheism. They also had neither mythology, philosophy, 
 or any science. Polytheism and philosophy, he thinks, 
 are the outflow of that ability of grasping the idea of 
 multiplicity ; in the childhood of humanity this ability 
 produces polytheism, and in mature age philosophy. 
 
 Prophecy and revelation were Semitic products, while 
 the doctrine of the Incarnation was perfected among the 
 Aryans. 
 
 The Semites were wanting in imaginative power, they 
 possess, therefore, no epics, no drama, and their poetry 
 is, therefore, subjective. 
 
 Simplicity characterises the Semites, the inability of 
 forming something grand and whole: hence, he thinks, 
 they never carried on any great commerce, were unable 
 to organize any great states, and had no aristocracy, no 
 feudal system, and no military organization. In a mili- 
 tary respect the Semites were of little importance, and 
 their military chief is often an ecclesiastical personage, as, 
 e. g., Abdelkader. 
 
 He denies the Semites any spirituality. Religious in- 
 tolerance, supposed to be unknown to the Aryans, is said 
 to be exclusively a product of the Semitic spirit, for 
 which, of course, humanity owes them no thanks. 
 
 Laxity of morals and harsh egotism, Renun maintains, 
 are also chief characteristic features of the Semite, for he 
 is said to know of duty only to himself, and many a Bib- 
 lical |>ersonage is adduced in evidence of this. This 
 characteristic Kenan concludes thus : "Ainsi la race Se- 
 mitique se reconnait presque uniquement a des caracteres 
 negatifs : elle n'a ni mythologie, ni epopee, ni science, ni 
 philosophic, ni fiction, ni arts plastiques, ni vie civile, en 
 tout absence de complexity des nuances, sentiment exclu- 
 sif <le I'unite." 
 
 In the later article which we mentioned, in seeking to 
 reply to the objections which were raised against this 
 characterization, Renan becomes measurably more just to 
 the Semites, and says of them that they often become en- 
 thused for .a mere idea, and that humanity owes them 
 thanks for many a blessing. Notwithstanding this, he 
 adheres to the above characterization, and it is inconceiv-
 
 20 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 able how such an incapable, ill-formed, and egotistic race 
 could still become enthused for a mere idea, and the^be- 
 stowers of many a blessing upon humanity. 
 
 This characterization is in part decidedly untrue, for 
 Renan imputes certain phenomena to the Semites which 
 never took place among them, and in other parts again 
 he interprets falsely these phenomena, deriving them 
 from false causes, and thus ascribes certain qualities to 
 the Semites which they do not possess. This characteri- 
 zation led on to consequences which reached far beyond 
 Kenan's aim ; a school formed itself in France, which, 
 conscious of an imagined superiority of the Aryan ever 
 the Semitic race, preached openly against Semitic mono- 
 theism, and almost encouraged a return to Aryan poly- 
 theism. 
 
 We will consider here some points of the characteriza- 
 tion given by Renan. 
 
 The Semitic race were, according to him, a " race in- 
 ferieure." It is difficult to dispute about such a point, as 
 it often is purely subjective. That which the French- 
 man considers as very foolish, the Englishman may con- 
 sider very wise, and vice versa, in which each one of 
 them may be perfectly correct from his standpoint. Can 
 it really be that the ancient Babylonians were altogether 
 void of any talents, they who invented weights and meas- 
 ures ; they who, already in the eighth century before 
 Christ, have made astronomical observations, which in 
 great part are correct to a second ; they who introduced 
 a system of canalization throughout their whole country, 
 by which they converted it into a paradise; they who 
 have erected those vast structures which were the objects 
 of the admiration of the ancient world ? Or can the 
 Assyrians be considered as having been untalented, who 
 were so far advanced in architecture, and who produced 
 works of art which can be placed by the side of those of 
 the Greeks ? 
 
 Many who have either lived among, or who had much 
 intercourse with, the Arabs, maintain that these were 
 very talented, and this, I believe, is attested by the mag- 
 nificent beauty of Arabian intellectual culture during the 
 Middle Ages, when they busied themselves with the 
 greatest zeal in all departments of science. Only able 
 and talented people have taste and pleasure in scientific 
 pursuits.
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 21 
 
 That the Phoenicians, despite their grandeur, should 
 after all have been without talent, this Kenan may pos- 
 sibly believe. I for my part can not consider men like 
 Hunno, Hatnilkar, ami Hannibal as having been block- 
 heads. It is true that Kenan attempts to strike out those 
 Phoenicians from the list of Semitic nations, because they 
 so obstinately refuse to be fitted into his system ; but has 
 he any tenable ground for doing so? Did they not 
 speak a Semitic language? Were not their gods and 
 their cities named by Semitic names ? And what other 
 criterion have we by which to determine the origin of 
 any nation except its language? It is true that the few 
 fragments of the Hebrew nation in the different lands of 
 Europe speak in different languages; but the reason of 
 this is obvious enough ; when, however, a great and 
 ir'ulcly-spread nation speaks one and the same language 
 from time immemorial, then that language must be taken 
 as a decided criterion of the origin of that nation. 
 
 And the Hebrews, are they too a nation without tal- 
 ents? I believe that their worst enemies, from Hainan 
 down to the celebrated composer Wagner, accord to 
 them high intellectual talents. Nay, more, these talents 
 constitute the fortune and misfortune of this nation ; for- 
 tune, because the intellectual talents are the highest 
 bl< ings of life; misfortune, because they create envy 
 and hatred; the blockhead is never envied, never hated. 
 Of the internal life of the ancient Arameans, we know 
 indeed very little, and it is impossible, therefore, to say 
 something positive of the degree of their talents. This 
 much, however, is known, that the Syrians occupied 
 themselves very extensively with grammatical studies, 
 philosophy, and with science generally, that they trans- 
 lated and commentated extensively upon the works of 
 Plato and Aristotle, and that for several centuries they 
 were the only cultivators of science, and at last became 
 the teachers of the Arabians. 
 
 Let us consider now the alleged inferiority of the Se- 
 mites from another side. The Semites have founded Ju- 
 daism, Christianity, and Islamism, and gave to humanity 
 the" Bible and the Koran. Hegel, the philosopher, says : 
 All that exists is rational, I can not agree to this sen- 
 tence, but would rather say: All that which does exist 
 must exist, and since it does exist, it must have such
 
 22 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 vital force in itself that its existence becomes a necessity, 
 or else it would not exist. An idea, which has dominated 
 for centuries, must have had a perfect right to such domi- 
 nation, and must have answered the spiritual demands 
 and necessities of those over whom it dominated, for no 
 idea can be made to attain a fasting dominion by means 
 of ukases and police ordinances , he that ( belie vet the 
 contrary knows but poorly humanity and history. Look- 
 ing altogether away from theology, and placing ourselves 
 on the standpoint which historians occupy, we say then : 
 Since the Bible has been regarded as a holy book for 
 thousands of years by millions, among whom were and 
 are found thousands and thousands of highly educated 
 people, who have for so long a time found in it refresh- 
 ment, instruction, consolation, and elevation of soul, 
 therefore must this Bible be a book which has answered, 
 and which does answer, the spiritual wants of man ; 
 were it not so, then the Bible could not have occupied 
 such a place in humanity. And speaking as we do here, 
 not as theologians, we are able to judge of the Koran too 
 in an unprejudiced way. This book also has become of 
 great importance to humanity, and having the Old and 
 New Testaments for its substructure, it undoubtedly dis- 
 seminated some very great truths, and accomplished 
 much good. Should then this race, which has enriched 
 humanity with ideas so full of blessings, ideas to which 
 even the most cultivated nations of antiquity could not 
 rise, should then this race to which humanity owes so 
 many blessings as Renan himself admits be a "race 
 inferieure"? Impossible! But Renan sought in the Se- 
 mites that which was of value for him, and finding little 
 of that, he declares it to be a "race inferieure." But 
 has the ingenious naturalist any right to pronounce the 
 ingenious historian a narrow-minded man, because this 
 one understands little of the naturalist's science? The 
 Semites are actually as talented as the Aryans, only that 
 the talents of the former are of a different nature from 
 that of the latter. 
 
 Renan maintains further that the Semites have not the 
 ability to grasp multiplicity, and incline, therefore,* in- 
 stinctively to unity. I confess 1 can not conceive how a 
 Renau could have said any such thing. On the contrary, 
 every uneducated mind sees in the multitude of phenom-
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 23 
 
 ena only an incoherent multiplicity ; and it is only the 
 more educated mind who seeks to reduce these to a fun- 
 damental unity. It requires, therefore, no special ability 
 for gra>pinj; multiplicity; every child can do this; but 
 it does require an especial ability to comprehend various 
 objects as belonging into one category, and then reduce 
 different categories again to one fundamental principle. 
 In this very thing consists the task of modern natural 
 science, vi/., to reduce the multitude of phenomena to a 
 single principle. Light, heat, electricity, and magnetism 
 are for the layman four totally different things; but for 
 tli scientific man they are only four different phenomena 
 of one and the same principle. 
 
 So far as the other points of Kenan's characterization 
 an concerned, it will appear further on, in our own char- 
 a< 'ten/at ion, what is true and what is false in them, and 
 also in how far he falsely conceived of different phenom- 
 ena in the institutions and mental products of the Se- 
 mites, and explained them wrongly. But there is one 
 point which I can not pass here unnoticed, viz., his as- 
 sertion that religious intolerance is a thing unknown to 
 the Aryans, and is an exclusive product of the Semitic 
 mind. This is decidedly incorrect, for that intolerance 
 occurs as much among the Aryans as among the Semites, 
 and if it occurs more frequently among the latter, it is 
 o\vin<r to the nature of the Semitic religion, and not to 
 the character of its professors. A religion which negates 
 every other one and declares it as a lie, can not be as tol- 
 erant as a religion which assumes a merely national char- 
 acter. The Greeks could not be intolerant to other than 
 their own gods, for they did not ignore them, and only 
 regarded them a.s*foreign. On the other hand, they pun- 
 ished relentlessly every desecration of their own religion, 
 on account of which they persecuted the philosophers 
 Anuxagoras, Alcibiades, and others. The Greeks and 
 Romans had a bitter hatred against the Jews, because 
 they held them as traducers of their gods. It is well 
 known how Antiochus Epiphanes persecuted the Jews 
 during the time of the Maccabeans on account of their 
 religion. The Aryan Brahmans persecuted the Budd- 
 hists fearfully, and for centuries, and in some Indian pro- 
 vinces succeeded in exterminating them completely. In 
 the same way the ancient Persians, under Cambyses,
 
 24 THK SF.MITIC NATIONS. 
 
 raged against the temples and gods of the Egyptians, and 
 Xerxes against those oi Greece. Ot the religious 1'uiati- 
 cism of the Aryan Sassanides, both Jews and Christians 
 have enough to record. But the Jews did not com-rni 
 themselves at all with the heathenism of other nations, and 
 only prohibited idolatry in their own country, because <>t 
 its connection with various vices in anterior Asia, by 
 which the Jewish |>eople might easily have been seduced. 
 From proselytizing the Jews keep themselves far away 
 even to this day. Islamism too is only intolerant against 
 heathenism, because it regards it as a He, but tolerates 
 Christianity and Judaism because it does not consider 
 them as false, believing of them only that they do not 
 contain the full truth, and that they became antiquated 
 through Islamism. Intolerance against the profanation 
 of anything that is regarded as holy, is common to both 
 Aryan and Semite; but the Aryans could not strive to 
 promulgate the truths of their religions further on, be- 
 cause there were no truths in them which they could 
 have regarded as specially their own. It must also not 
 be left unnoticed that the Mohammedan Persian, although 
 he is an Aryan, is incomparably more fanatical than the 
 genuine Arab. 
 
 The peculiarities of a people arise from four funda- 
 mental causes, viz. : 
 
 1. From the nature of its intellect. 
 
 2. From tho nature of its heart and nervous system. 
 
 3. From the relation in which these two qualities 
 stand to each other, i. e. whether the intellect preponde- 
 rates over the heart, or whether they balance each other. 
 
 4. And lastly the peculiarities of a nation depend up- 
 on the distribution of the spiritual gifts among its mem- 
 bers, i. e., whether they are limited to only a small num- 
 ber of individuals, or are bountifully divided among the 
 great mass. From this stand point we will investigate 
 the nature of the Semitic nations. 
 
 A. In reference to the Intellect : The Semite does not 
 possess that fullness and variety of ideas, which the Ary- 
 an does, but he possesses a sound, practical, one might 
 almost say mathematical intellect, a talent of easy and 
 quick comprehension, and an acuteness, which often de- 
 generates in subtleties. With such new ideas and con- 
 ceptions as are the outflow of the intellect, the Semites
 
 THE SENflTIC NATIONS. 25 
 
 have little enriched humanity, but the ideas which they 
 oner grasped they worked up finely, and pursued to the 
 utmost consequences. 
 
 B. In reference to the Disposition, (Gemneth) and the 
 Organization of the nervous system: The Semite posses- 
 M > a drrp, easily excitable disjx>sition, and is capable of 
 mighty feelings; he is therefore, lively, mobile, easily 
 I'xeiu-d. passionate, quickly enthused for an idea, active 
 and enterprising, flexible and adapting, easily finding 
 himself at home in strange relations and circumstances, 
 accommodating himself to them without difficulty, with- 
 out, however, allowing of being absorbed by them. 
 
 C. In reference to the interrelation of Heart and In- 
 tellect: The easy excitibility and passionateness of the Se- 
 mites is regulated by their intellect ; there dominates 
 in them a certain equipoise between heart and head, so 
 that they guard each other against excesses. The Semite, 
 therefore, moves apparently in contrasts, for while in the 
 Aryan either the intellect or the heart predominates, we 
 find in the Semite a sharply incising intellect, coupled 
 with a deeply poetic disposition, reflexion coupled with 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 D. In reference to the distribution of Mental Gifts : 
 There were among the Semites always comparatively 
 fewer great men of prominent mental gifts, so called ge- 
 niu<- s. than among the Aryan nations; but the great 
 mass of the former is more talented than that of the lat- 
 ter, so that we find fewer geniuses, but relatively more 
 talented individuals among the Semites than among the 
 Aryans. Dull and stupid individuals are fewer among 
 the former than among the latter. 
 
 From these fundamental peculiarities of the Semites 
 rise the following qualities : 
 
 1 . Soberness of Disposition and want of an extrava- 
 gant fancy. 
 
 '2. Sharply expressed individuality of the single per son. 
 
 3. Depth and inwardness of the Affections, (Gemueth) 
 <|tiiek and easy excitibility of the same, and as a conse- 
 quence of this, receptivity for humane ideas, inclination 
 to benevolence, quick enthusiam for an idea, and exalta- 
 tion of the mind, of an idea, above material power; a 
 more spiritual conception of the external world and an 
 inclination to idealism.
 
 26 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 From these qualities may be$xplftuied the various phe- 
 nomena in the life of the Semites, their fortunes, i institu- 
 tions and spiritual productions. 
 
 1. The soberness of the spirit of the S. 'mites mani- 
 fested its influence upon their religion, their .-eienee, their 
 poetry. 
 
 1. Upon their Religion. 
 
 a. The Semites produced sober, simple, easily under- 
 stood religious views and conceptions; speaking gener- 
 ally, we may say, that the Semites, as long as they did 
 not come in close contact with other nations, showed far 
 less inclination to coarse superstitions than the Aryans. 
 We find in the Pentateuch already, prohibitions against 
 all manner of sorcery and witchcraft, as well as against 
 the belief in the influence of the stars upon the fortunes 
 of nations. Even those rabbis, who were not exposed to 
 Persian influences, forbade every kind of incantation, the 
 use of secret, magic-like remedies and talismans, the be- 
 lief in good and evil days, good and evil forebodings. 
 So also is the Arab of the desert, as the general testimo- 
 ny of travelers assures us, little accessible to superstitions, 
 and is a far less strict Mohammedan than the Persian and 
 Turk. 
 
 b. The Mythology of the Semites, as far as we know 
 it, viz., that of the Phoenicians, Babylonians, Assyrians 
 and Arabs, is extremely sober and simple, and holds no 
 comparison with the variety and richness of the mytho- 
 logy of the Greeks, whose mythology again compared 
 with that of India, must appear simple and sober. The 
 same is, true of Semitic cosmogony. To be persuaded of 
 this, it is only necessary to compare the cosmogony of 
 the Babylonians, as we find it in Berosos and Eude- 
 mos, and that of the Phoenicians in Sanchonjathon, with 
 that of Hesiod or with that of the Hindoos, as is seen in 
 the laws of Manu and in the Mahabharata. 
 
 c. Religious revelry, religious extacies and religious 
 trances occur, on the whole, far more rarely among the 
 Semites than among the Aryans, and when they do occur, 
 are not of such an excessive character as among the lat- 
 ter. Lucian speaks extensively of the Galls, the priests 
 of the goddess Cybele in Asia Minor, and mentions that in 
 their religious frenzy they mutilated themselves with 
 swords ; some of the New Platonians threw themselves
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 27 
 
 into religious extacies and believed then to have divine 
 vi-ious. The religious enthusiasms and trances of the 
 Mohammedan Sufis and Derwishes, who are almost ex- 
 clu-ively Persian Mohammedans, is well known. Such 
 phenomena occur very rarely among the Semites gem-ral- 
 ly, and particularly so among the Arabs, who are yet Mo- 
 han mcilaiis, and among the Jews. 
 
 There is very little inclination to mysticism found 
 among the Semites. For a very long time the Jews 
 kept themselves perfectly free from every kind of 
 mysticism; so is also the uUunSnn of the Arabs almost 
 free from it, while the Islamism of the Aryrian Per- 
 sians has an entirely mystical character. The fanciful 
 and mystical Sufisra proceeded from the Persians, and to 
 this day ils spread is almost entirely confined to them. 
 The genuine Arab, on the other hand, is too sober-mind- 
 ed to find any taste in it. 
 
 The life of Mohammed and Ali is indeed embellished 
 by the Arabs with miracles, but keeps otherwise quite so- 
 berly, while the life of these heroes of Islam, as related 
 by tlu- Persians, assumes altogether the phantastical and 
 mystical character of the life of Buddha, as given by the 
 Aryan Buddhists. 
 
 2. The influence of Semitic soberness on science. 
 
 a. The philosophy of the Semites has a sober, one 
 might almost say, a practical character; we call to mind 
 only the Old Testament evidence of the existence of God. 
 " Lift up your eyes," exclaims a great prophet, " to 
 heaven and see who created all these !" Or as the Psalm- 
 ist says : " The heavens declare the glory of God, and 
 the expanse preaches of the works of his hands." Very 
 simple, but I as a Semite, find it also very rational. The 
 Semites occupy themselves almost exclusively with only 
 such philosophical questions, which to a certain extent 
 have an immediate significance for life, and never philo- 
 sophise aimlessly about things that are unsearchable. 
 
 Thus the philosophy of the Arabs, and a little later that 
 of the Jews, turns chiefly about the two questions, which 
 they called Tauchid and Tadil, i. e. the question, how the 
 attributes of God are to be united with the idea of His 
 absolute unity, and the question how to reconcile the 
 doctrine of the divine omniscience, with that of human 
 free will ; these are questions which are of great prac-
 
 28 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 tical importance for strict Monotheists and such as believe 
 in those seemingly contradictory doctrines. The great 
 problems of humanity, as e. g. " How to explain the cre- 
 ation of the material world by an immaterial God, and 
 the relation of man to Him." These they explained in a 
 very simple and rational way ; but they never lapsed in- 
 to Pantheism, nor into the doctrine of Emmanntinn. The 
 assertion of Kenan, that the Semites had no philosophy 
 of their own at all, and that, that of the Arabs was only 
 a " philosophie Grecque ecrit en Arabe" is decidedly incor- 
 rect ; for who will maintain that the Semitic doctrines of 
 creation, of the relation of man to God, as well as the 
 general Semitic view of the universe, were not the pro- 
 ducts of philosophic reflection ? It is- only the Ybrm in 
 which these philosophic doctrines are presented by the 
 Semites, that differs from that of the more ancient and 
 modern Aryans. So far as concerns the philosophy of 
 the Arabs, T have many years ago called Mr. Kenan's 
 attention to the fact, that long before the Arabs ever knew 
 of the philosophy of the Greeks, they already busied them- 
 selves with the philosophic solution of the above men- 
 tioned questions. Recently, Alfred von Kremer, who is 
 highly versed in Islam and in Mohammedan literature, 
 has shown that the Arabs have gone through all the pha- 
 ses of philosophy, from Scotus Erigona down to Kant and 
 Schelling, and after enumerating all the views of the 
 Christian European philosophers about God, he asks very 
 pertinately : "Are all these deductions clearer than those 
 of the Islamic thinkers? Do they enrich the circle of hu- 
 man conceptions with one positive idea? etc." Their 
 Ethics crystalized themselves, so to say, in simple and 
 practical sayings, and thus the Semites arrived at more 
 sound results than the Greeks with their highly developed 
 Diaclectics. 
 
 b. Instead of dealing with too abstract and insolvable 
 questions, the Arabs occupied themselves principally with 
 practical sciences, such as Astronomy, Mathematics. Me- 
 dicine, &c., in which they were the first elementary 
 teachers of the Aryans, and then became their most dil- 
 igent and talented pupils. But when Kenan asserts, 
 that the Semites had no science at all, this can not but 
 astonish all those that have a knowledge of Semitic liter- 
 ature, who well know that the writings, which treat of
 
 I UK SEMITIC NATIONS. 29 
 
 Astronomy. Mathematics, Medicine, Chemistry, Geogra- 
 phy, I'mtany, Zoology &c., in the Arabian, -'Hebrew, 
 ami partly in Syrian literatures, are numbered by the 
 thousands. Kenan explains subsequently his assertion by 
 saying, he meant only that the Semites did not pursue an 
 imlt [R'ndent part in those sciences, and did not carry tlu-m 
 further on. But this too is not correct ; for the measur- 
 ing of time and space is an invention of the Babylonians. 
 These, as we mentioned above, have made very careful 
 astronomical observations, long before the time there was 
 yet any thought of science in Greece. There was a scien- 
 tific literature in Babylon already in the beginning of the 
 sixth century before Christ. King Solomon wrote : "Of 
 the trees, from the cedars of Lebanon down to the Hys- 
 sop, which grows upon the wall, and of beasts and birds, 
 and of creeping things and fishes." Is here not 
 the contents of an entire Botany and Zoology? The Car- 
 thagenian, Mago, wrote already in the sixth century B. 
 C., a great work on agriculture, which theRomaus thought, 
 of such importance, that by order of the Senate it was 
 translated into Greek by Dionysius of Utica, and from 
 the Greek it was then translated into Latin. The Gre- 
 cian atjronoms, Manaseas and Paxamus, made use of this 
 work of Mago. Columella calls him " pater rusticationis" 
 and speaks in the highest terms of his work. So far as 
 concerns the scientific activity of the Semites in the mid- 
 dlo ages, we know that certain departments of science, 
 t. g. Mathematics and Astronomy were certainly further 
 developed by them, while it is impossible as yet to pro- 
 nounce a definite opinion as to the value of their labors 
 in other scientific departments, the labors of the Jews and 
 Arabs in this province not having yet been sufficiently 
 examined, because Orientalists know too little of science, 
 ami scientists, know too little of oriental languages. 
 
 3. The Art of the Semites is equal to their Philoso- 
 phy and Grammar; it is sober, not rich in ideas, but 
 distinguishes itself by its admirable detail, which is car- 
 ried to the highest degree of finesse. As an instance I 
 mention here the Alhambra. Seeing for the first time the 
 sculptures of this palace of theChalifs of Cordova, I was 
 reminded by them of the definitions of the Arabian 
 Grammarians and Logicians, and of some Talmudical 
 discussions, which are equally fine but poor in ideas. The
 
 30 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 so called Gothic style is, at least in part, of Arabian ori- 
 gin, and comparing tins style of architecture, as far as it 
 is of Arabian origin, with that of the Greeks, we are 
 compelled to deny any grandeur of thought in the former, 
 while its elaboration of detail is and remains worthy of 
 admiration. 
 
 4. Influence of Semitic soberness on its Poetry. It 
 is mainly lyrical : it is a momentary, mighty outpouring 
 of a very feeling, passionate and easily excitable disposi- 
 tion. Such are the poetical products of the ancient He- 
 brews, as well as those of the middle ages, and such are 
 those of the Arabs, and almost of the same character is 
 even the poetry of Heinrich Heine. Real epic poems the 
 Semites have none. An approach to an epic mode of 
 presentation may indeed be found in the so called Kaiub 
 el-futuch of the Arabs, i. e. in the writings containing ro- 
 mantic stories of the great campaigns of the Arabians af- 
 ter Mohammed, and of the heroes, which became promi- 
 nient in them ; but how soberly kept are even these ro- 
 mantic stories compared with the often measureless fancy, 
 with which the Aryan epics are elaborated, as e.g. the 
 Mahahharata, the Ramayana, the biographies of Buddha, 
 and the Bodhisattwas. It must not be left unnoticed, 
 that the first novelist, who gave a sober direction to Ger- 
 man novel literature was a Jew ; we mean Berthold Au- 
 erbach with his village stories. Whether Jewish music 
 also, I mean that of Meyerbeer, Mendelsohn-Bartholdy, 
 Halevy and other Jewish composers, has a specifically Se- 
 mitic character, i. e. want of grand ideas and yet wonder- 
 ful elaboration of detail, this I dare not assert, not being 
 a musician myself ; but a priori, I am almost inclined to 
 maintain it, since the persistency of the Semitic character 
 seldom denies itself. 
 
 II. A second trait of the Semitic character is a sharp- 
 ly expresed Individuality of the single person, which does 
 not allow of its being easily absorbed by other individu- 
 alities and be brought into obedience, but which rather 
 offers a tenacious quality of resistance. This peculiarity 
 of the Semites has given a special impress to their politi- 
 co-social, scientific and religious relations. 
 
 1. In politico-religious relation. 
 
 a. There prevailed always among the Semites, a great 
 respect for individuality, and in consequence of thifr, also
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 31 
 
 a great personal freedom ainl perfect equality, especially 
 before the law ; the Mos.iic politico-social institution-. :; s 
 well as the lite and the laws of the Arabs give sufficient 
 proof of this. 
 
 6. For the same reason there never was among the 
 Semites any preferred, privileged birth-arlxtocracy t no 
 / xijxtcm, but there \va- among them an aristocracy 
 of mind, founded upon individual personal worth. There 
 wire, indeed, noble lain i lie.- and noble tribes among the 
 Arabs, but it is more correct to say, there were families 
 and tribes who considered themselves nobler than the 
 re-t ; but prerogatives and privileges were accorded to 
 none. Even the Sherifs, t. e. the real or supposed de- 
 scendants of Mohammed, enjoy in reality no special pre- 
 rogatives, and it is only the very high significance of their 
 ancestors, which procures for them a certain amount of 
 t. That among nearly all the Aryans, things were 
 different in this respect, and are so in great part to this 
 day, is universally Known. 
 
 c. For the same reason too, there were no Castes among 
 the Semites, no caste-priesthood, and wherever such were 
 introduced, it was effected under great opposition from 
 the part of the people, and after great conflicts, and the 
 institution of caste-priesthood was at last abolished, as 
 soon as circumstances permitted it. Among the heathen 
 Ar.ibs, the priest was called Kahin, i. e. " the sooth say- 
 er :" whoever, therefore, knew the art of soothsaying 
 could be priest. According to the Arabic institutions of 
 I>lami-m, any one, who is versed in its religious laws, 
 enn perform the priestly functions. 
 
 It is well known, that Moses introduced an hereditary 
 
 -thood in Israel ; but already in his lifetime there 
 
 arose a powerful opposition against this institution. Many 
 
 notable persons, of whom it is said, that they were "heads 
 
 of congregations, who were called to the Assembly, men 
 
 of name ," at the head of whom stood a very near 
 
 ivlative of Moses, viz., Korah, these rose up against Mo- 
 ses and Aaron, and told them in genuine Semitic style : 
 " You have enough ! The entire congregation, all are 
 holy, and God is in their midst, and why do ye exalt 
 yourselves over the people of God?" Down to the time 
 of David the priestly family could not well hold its own, 
 and until that time, we find that persons not of the
 
 3:2 THE "SEMITIC NATK) V ~. 
 
 priestly families, frequently offered sacrifices by them- 
 selves, and this is nu-ntioned without rebuke. It was not 
 until the Monarchy combined itself, as it often happened, 
 with the priesthood, and that not till after some vacilla- 
 tions, that the priesthood was able to maintain its right*. 
 But the Hebrew priests were not merely sacrificers, they 
 were also the teachers of the people, and thus distin- 
 guished themselves by personal worth and not by the 
 mere privilege of caste. Jn the kingdom of the ten tribes, 
 hereditary priesthood was abolished quickly and forever, 
 and even in Judea a king made once an opposition, though 
 an ineffectual one, against the hereditary priesthood ; 
 and the prophets too were a continual balance against it. 
 The democratically disposed Pharisaic party during the 
 second Temple, supplanted gradually the priests in their 
 functions as teachers and attempted even to rob them of 
 their religious priviliges, by assuming themselves certain 
 religious duties. After the destruction of the second 
 Temple, the priests lost any and every importance, and 
 to this day, any one is chosen as a Rabbi who is distin- 
 guished for learning and piety. On the other hand, the 
 inclination of theAryansto castes, need not at all, I think, 
 to be proven ; it manifests itself to this day in the for- 
 mation of guilds and special societies. It is well known, 
 that the Brahmins of the Aryan Hindoos form a caste ; 
 but the Magii too formed a special tribe among the Per- 
 sians. 
 
 d. In consequence too of that characteristic trait of 
 the Semites, there was a prevalence among them of de- 
 mocratic state institutions and autonomy. The Mosaic 
 state institutions were based altogether on the principle 
 of entire equality and perfect autonomy ; the entire peo- 
 ple, not less than every village were to govern them- 
 selves, and this was partly done even during the time of 
 the Kings. The Arabian king, sheich, or chief of the 
 tribe, was only & primus inter pare*, an official of limited 
 power, the presiding officer* of the assembly; his office 
 was elective and not hereditary. Even the Chalifate it- 
 self was originally based on democratic principles. Ori- 
 ginally all the property and revenue of the state belonged 
 to all Moslems and was distributed among them as a 
 yearly dotation, called " Atha ;" the Chalif was the free 
 chosen official, whose business was to oversee the state
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 33 
 
 property and distribute it equally, but like every other 
 state governor, he had also to perform the ecclesiastical 
 functions. One of his main tasks was, the dissemination 
 and strengthening of Islamism. There was oucfe an at- 
 tempt made to refuse obedience to the Chalif Omar, be- 
 cause it was believed that he appropriated to himself from 
 the booty a larger piece of cloth, than that which he gave 
 to the rest. 
 
 The main cause of the downfall of the Chalif Oth- 
 inan was, his arbitrary procedure in the distribution 
 of the state lands. This state of things lasted as 
 long as the seat of the Chalifate was yet in Mecca. 
 When this was transferred to Damascus, and the Onia- 
 yades came to the throne, these allowed themselves 
 to make some encroachments, to which the Arabs 
 responded with terrific rebellions. There were 
 then forming mighty, fanatical, political sects, known by 
 the name of *' Chawarig," whose tendency was decided- 
 ly republican, and even the monarchical party of the 
 Arabs considered their relation to the Chalifs as that of 
 a solvable contract. The despotism of the Chalifate dates 
 in reality only from the time, when the seat of the gov- 
 ernment was transferred to Bagdad by the Abbasides, 
 who came to power principally by the aid of the Per- 
 sians. The stock of the population of Bagdad consisted 
 of Aryan Persians. Here the Chalifs surrounded them- 
 selves with Persian troops and Persian Ministers, as e.g. 
 the Bermakides, who surrounded the throne for three 
 long generations, and so there were many other Viziers of 
 Persian extraction. The official body of the different 
 Divans also consisted in great part of Persians. Nay, 
 more, we find even, that individuals of Persian extrac- 
 tion who stood close by the side of the Chalifs, were ani- 
 mated by a bitter hatred against the Arabs, and gave un- 
 sparing vent to their ire in numerous writings and pam- 
 phlets, (missives). The turbulent and factious Arabian 
 troops were distributed among their tribes, and dislocat- 
 ed in separate camps to the outside of the city. The Cha- 
 lifs knew well that everything else but unity and harmo- 
 ny was possible among Semites. A confederation of these 
 Arabian tribes against the despotic Chalifs was not to be 
 feared. The Persian Shiites were, so to say, the legiti- 
 mists of the Islam ; they were the supporters and defen-
 
 34 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 ders of the absolutistie idea of the Chalifate. At this 
 tendency of the Chalifs, many Arabian tribes withdrew 
 to the desert, and the Arabian sectarians, known as the 
 Carraates, formed a terrible insurrection against the Cha- 
 lifate, defeated its troops severely, and sustained them- 
 selves for a hundred and fifty years in continual war 
 against this new un-Semitic Ibrm of government. But 
 even during this time of despotic rule, the Chalifs still 
 observed an outward appearance, at least, of freedom, in 
 allowing the chiefs of the people to confirm the heir to 
 the throne, whom they appointed. Autonomy existed 
 among the Semites, and especially among the Arabs, in 
 every form of government, even during the greatest des- 
 potic rule of the Chalifs. 
 
 At the same time as the Abbasides by the aid of the 
 Aryan Persians, perfected despotism in Bagdad, while 
 their Vizier, the first officer of the state was no more 
 than a mean slave, the plaything of his master's whims, 
 things were altogether different under the Omayades 
 and among the Arabic population in Spain. Here old 
 Arabic freedom yet held its sway, and the Arabian 
 chieftains here, as well as the rich land owners with their 
 numerous adherents and clients cared little or nothing 
 about the Chalifs in Cordova, did not seek his favors, 
 did not mind his commands and defied him on every oc- 
 casion. The Vizier, too, was here not like that in the 
 East, a favored slave for the moment, who trembled at 
 the anger of his master, liable to be hurled from the 
 highest pinnacle of his power into the most abject misery; 
 here he was, as in our own time an English minister is, 
 an independent, free man, who would brook no insult 
 from his sovereign. A Chalif of Cordova, who once al- 
 lowed himself a joke at the beard of his Vizier, was 
 obliged to hear from him the following words : Sire," 
 said the angry minister, " one desires such a post as 
 mine, in order to be protected against insults. Since, 
 however, I see that I expose myself to it just by my po- 
 sition, receive, therefore my office back. I can well spare 
 it, and my palace, which you can not take from me, is 
 perfectly sufficient for rue." With these words the proud 
 minister left the confused sovereign, without a parting 
 salutation. The sovereign tried his be^t to reconcile his 
 offended minister, but did not succeed. Such a state of
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 35 
 
 things obtained there, where genuine Arabs lived, -and 
 there, too, the Chalifs courted the favor of public opinion 
 and popularity, by mean- ofpMftUklly attached friends 
 and client-s, l>y court poets and court literati ; a sort of 
 people similar to the venal French journalists of then>\v, 
 thank God, buried Empire. In the East the Chulils 
 had no need of resorting to such means, for there the 
 JVr.-iau troops of Chorasan, or the Turks, took care by 
 other and more energetic means, to preserve the authori- 
 ty of their sovereign. 
 
 e. The Semite with his sharply expressed individual- 
 ity was on that account never absorbed by the state ; the 
 idea of a state was, with him, rather the modern one, viz, 
 that the state existed for the protection of the individual. 
 With the Aryans, the idea was a different one; even 
 in the republics of the old world, the individual counted 
 for nothing, and the single person was more or less ab- 
 sorbed by the state. *Even Plato and Aristotle agree on 
 this point, that the individual must seek his highest hap- 
 piness in the state, since he lives only for the state and is 
 its servant. A state like the Spartan would have been an 
 impossibility among Semites. 
 
 /. The Semites had no standing army, as a rule, but 
 a citizens militia, which were kept together by some 
 common interest or idea. The force of a standing army 
 consists in the complete subjection of the individual sol- 
 dier to the will of his superior; but this the Semite does 
 not do ; he obeys only then, when it is either to his ad- 
 vantage, or when he is compelled to do so. Voluntarily 
 he only submits to one who is intellectually his superior. 
 For this, reason, Semites very seldom served as mercena- 
 ries, but rather employed such in their own service. In 
 the comparatively rare instances, when Semites entered 
 in foreign service, it was not the individual man as such, 
 who hired himself out, but they went as a whole tribe, 
 kept together under the lax discipline of its chief, and 
 which, when occasion offered itself, could return home. 
 During the first period of his reign, King David, acting 
 then as a liberator, employed national troops only ; when 
 subsequently, however, he extended his military enter- 
 l>n~es and assumed the offensive, he was obliged to em- 
 ploy foreign, and evidently non-Semitic mercenaries. The 
 same also was the case with the Maccabeans. In the first
 
 36 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 times of the Chalifates, the troops consisted of Arabs 
 only, and then every one of them who was able to carry 
 a lunce joined in the combats, but of course, every tribe 
 together and under the leadership of their own chosen 
 chieftain. To a certain extent, each individual fought 
 for his own interest ; the more cunning ones for rich 
 spoils, the less so, for the dissemination ot Islamism. In 
 subsequent times, however, when great campaigns were 
 carried on for the personal interests of the Chalifs, when 
 the questions at issue were, whether Emir or Mamun 
 should be the Chalif, then the war was carried on by Per- 
 sians principally and later on by Turks. In the compar- 
 atively few instances, when Arabs fought for the sover- 
 eignity of one or another person, they either pursued in so 
 doing their personal interest, e. g. that of a certain tribe, 
 or they were carried away by a momentary partisan pas- 
 sion, and were soon cured of it. Thus it was in the civil 
 war after the death of Chalif Otliman, when Ali and 
 Moaviya contended for the supremacy, and caused fearful 
 bloodshed. The Arabs then soon came to their senses 
 and saw that the personal ambition of two rivals was the 
 cause of all that, and fanatics determined to kill both of 
 them ; others forced them to compromise ; others again 
 left the army on their own responsibility, declaring both 
 of the rivals as unworthy to rule, and maintained that 
 they were perfectly indifferent as to what family the candi- 
 date be from, and that even a slave might be chosen if 
 personally worthy. Nay, more, some even maintained 
 that there was no need at all of a chief for the state, and 
 that a ruler may be deposed and even executed, if he be 
 irreligious or rule unjustly. 
 
 g. This sharply pronounced individuality, this harsh 
 self-will of the Semites, is also the cause of their many 
 faults. They are wanting in unity, coherence, harmony 
 and strict order. In vain did a Chalif of the first cen- 
 tury of the Hegira, exhort to obedience and harmony ; 
 in vain did he preach to his Arabs, that separatism was 
 the work of the devil ; he preached to deaf ears. And 
 indeed, how can one expect to find unity, harmony obe- 
 dience and order in a race, every individual of which is 
 unwilling to submit to the will of another, and is acting 
 only according to his own mind? National coherency 
 among the Semites was always of a loose kind ; a single
 
 THE SEMITIC XATION8. 37 
 
 tribe kept together to some extent, but that only as long 
 as it was small, when it became numerous, it soon divid- 
 ed itself in two or more smaller ones, each one acting 
 independently of the other. 
 
 h. For the same reason, the Semites rarely founded 
 ^n-;it states, and when they did so, it was not of long tin- 
 ration, the coherency of the individual members of the 
 sMte !>cing of a loose nature; each one of them being 
 unwilling to be absorbed by the other, and rather main- 
 taining its individual independency in the* State. This 
 is a natural result of the Semitic character; tough, resist- 
 ing masses are not easily knit together, but where one 
 will is dominant, there alone great undertakings and the 
 founding of great states become possible. The Assyri- 
 ans, the Babylonians, and later on the Chalifs founded 
 jzrcat empires, yet in doing this, they did not destroy the 
 independent lite qf the provinces ; nay, more, in certain 
 countries the national Kings were left on their thrones. 
 No one ever thought of a centralized administration of 
 the government, or of a suppression of the national life 
 in the provinces. A Different procedure, was that pur- 
 sued by the Achaemenides, by Alexander of Macedon, 
 by the Romans, and even by that of the Sassanides. De- 
 centralization always prevailed among the Semites, while 
 among the Aryans centralization prevails almost to this 
 day. The Semites could never subject themselves to an 
 infallible Pope, with reference to whom, ones own indi- 
 viduality must be completely given up in certain rela- 
 tions. But about one hundred millions of Aryans do 
 this. In the Vatican reside those who possess a vast 
 knowledge of human nature, who know very well what 
 they are doing. They know that the Aryans are in the 
 main susceptible for such a dogma, and they are right in 
 this, for the Persians may serve as an evidence of it, 
 aiwm<r whom mainly, although Mohammedan, there ob- 
 tains the really tin-Mohammedan doctrine of an infalli- 
 ble spiritual Head, called Irnaum, to whom every one 
 owes unconditional obedience. Among all the Aryans, 
 the Germanic tribes are those most like the Semites in 
 the definitely expressed idea of individuality; in conse- 
 ijiience of this constitutional forms of government have 
 more stability and substantiality among them than among 
 the Romanic tribes. Autonomy and decentralization is
 
 38 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 more developed among them, Protestantism and the free- * 
 dom of religious investigations found an entrance among 
 them mainly, and the doctrine of papal infallibility found 
 its greatest opponents among German Catholics. There 
 are other traits too, in which the Germans resemble the 
 Semites, e, g. in religiousness, &c. 
 
 1. To the faults of the Semites, which are the results 
 of their pronounced individualism belong also egotism, 
 selfish over-estimation and polygamy. Further more, ava- 
 rice, coupled very often with prodigal liberality, cunning- 
 ness as an outflow of their sharp intellect and its tenden- 
 cy to subtleties. As an outflow too, of that Semitic con- 
 stitution of mind is their acrid, biting and piquant satire, 
 their pungent wit and cutting irony, by which Arabian 
 and Jewish poets of the middle ages, as well as Jewish 
 writers of modern times have distinguished themselves. 
 
 2. The influence of this sharply pronounced indivi- 
 dualism upon science and poetry. 
 
 a. This quality gave the Semites the ability of indi- 
 vidualizing abstract objects, i. e. imparting to them con- 
 crete, one might almost say, a material form. The Semites, 
 it is true, were not the inventors of the Alphabet, in the 
 proper sense of that word, but they were certainly those, 
 who made the right use of an obscure idea of the Egyp- 
 tians, elaborated and disseminated it far and wide. It was 
 also the Semites, who invented the means of weighing 
 objects, and of measuring time and space, i. e. they are 
 the inventors of weights and measures. And is this in- 
 vention really a small affair, because we are familiar 
 with the conception of it from our childhood ? But those 
 who first came upon the thought of measuring such in- 
 comprehensible things as time and space, they certainly 
 made a grand invention. These inventors were the Se- 
 mitic Babylonians, from whom we date to this day, the 
 division upon our time pieces. But this invention is 
 rooted in the peculiar facility of the Semites of individu- 
 alizing abstract things. 
 
 6. The poetry of the Semites is more subjective than 
 objective ; when a Semite describes a natural phenome- 
 non, for instance a sun-rise or the like, he tells more of 
 what he feels, than of that which he sees. The easy exciti- 
 bility of the Semites makes their poetry powerful, deep and 
 heartfelt. The lament of the Semite is not silent and re-
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 39 
 
 flective, but like most of his actions, it is clamorous, one 
 might almost call it, heaven-storming. The Semites, as 
 we noticed before, have hardly written any epics at all, 
 and never any drUML The opinion that the Song of 
 Solomon is a drama, I consider as without foundation * 
 An individual of a sharply pronounced character, may 
 well be able to depict hU own feelings and affections, but 
 not those of another one, for to do so, he must forsake, 
 to a certain extent, his own individuality, and place him- 
 self in that of the other, and this is a thing, which a Se- 
 mite is not well able to do, and yet for the creation of an 
 Epos or a drama, it is indispensible that one should be 
 able to do so. The Jews are, therefore, to this day, poor 
 dramatists, with few exceptions. The great lyric writer, 
 He'mrk'h Heine, was a poor dramatist, and the only dra- 
 ma which Berthold Auerbach wrote, has no great merits 
 as such. 
 
 3. Influence of this quality of the Semites in religious 
 matters. 
 
 a. The Semitic idea of Deity, expressed itself in ado- 
 ration of the stars, of certain spirits, (called gin) and in 
 that of an extra mundane, personal God. God and the 
 world are among the Semites, two totally different and 
 sharply separated conceptions. The divinities of the 
 Semites are not indistinct forms, but sharply expressed 
 personalities, as the Semites themselves are. The idea of 
 Deity among the Aryans, expresses itself on the contra- 
 ry, in Pantheism and Polytheism, which latter is noth- 
 ing else than a deification ofthe abstract forces of nature. 
 This needs no demonstration here ; but we must call at- 
 tention to one point, viz., that a nation will rather modi- 
 fy its religion to make it accord with the national char- 
 acter and its native constitution of mind, than it will do 
 the reverse. The Mohammedans, and hence Monotheis- 
 tic Aryans, inclined as much to Pantheism as their heath- 
 en kinsmen, and founded Pantheistic sects kjside of Isla- 
 misin. We call to mind here the Persian / Pantheists, 
 
 * True to my Semitic origin, I dare to differ from my great 
 brother, the Author, in this one instance. In my own new trans- 
 lation of and commentary upon the Song of Solomon, (which is 
 yet in manuscript 1 1 have shown conclusively this .poem to be a 
 true, although a sui generi* drama. 
 
 THE TJUJJSLATOB.
 
 40 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 Halloy, Sohrawerdi, Gelal-ed-Din-er-Rurai.and the other 
 numberless Persian Sufis, whose Pantheistic doctrines 
 found entrance chiefly among the Persians, and found 
 there zealous followers and even martys for their cause. 
 
 6. In close connection with the Semitic conception of 
 God, are their theories of the Creation. Monotheistic as 
 well as polytheistic Semites conceive the Creation to be 
 the free act of a personal Deity, and the world, which i.s 
 completely separated from the Deity, they conceive as the 
 object of the divine Creation. Among the Aryans, how- 
 ever among whom the ancient Persians form a partial 
 exception Cosmogony and Theogony flow into each 
 other; the Creatioa-is conceived of as a self production 
 and self developement of the world, with which theogo- 
 nic elements are more or less combined, and which ends 
 at last in Pantheism and Emanation. Among the Semites 
 the Creation is a xr'tacz, creatura among the Aryans it is 
 a ^>tWc, natura, or geniiura. 
 
 c. Among the Semites there prevailed also a fixed 
 boundary between God and man ; for both of them are 
 sharply pronounced individualities, which cannot be co- 
 mingled. Here worship and divine adoration of men, 
 are as a general thing, of very rare occurence among the 
 Semites. Among the Aryans it is just the reverse of 
 this; for with them, the way from the lowest man up to 
 the highest Divinity, was made up of a series of ascend- 
 ing steps, so that man and God are perfectly confluent : 
 hence the divine homage paid to men, whereby it may 
 happen, that he, who was yesterday a fellow-huntsman 
 and a fellow-drinker, tomorrow is adored by his fellows 
 as a God. The doctrine of the Incarnation, which is 
 most intimately connected with the divine adoration of 
 men, was and is widely disseminated among the Aryans. 
 The same phenomenon occurs remarkably enough 
 among the Mohammedan Persians too. Among these, 
 the doctrine, that God embodied himself in a human be- 
 ing, became widely diffused ; various sects were formed 
 whose doctrines are briefly expressed in the words, TAU- 
 CHID, i. e. the becoming of one with God, then HOLUJL, 
 t. e. the indwelling of God in the world and in men, and 
 lastly TASCHABBOH, i. e. the becoming similar and the 
 identification of men with God. Ali is adored by them, 
 in a measure, as God. or as an incarnation of God. Sim-
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 41 
 
 ilar to tins it is related of the Persian sect of Raican- 
 diyyah in Chorosan, that they deified, in measure, the 
 Chalifel-Mimssur who is well known by the not very 
 honorable surname of el-Safah, i. e. the shedder of blood. 
 They called him their " Rehb," . e. their Lord a 
 name applied to God only, by other Mohammedans, 
 who nourishes and strengthens them. The castle, which 
 this Chalif erected and which is named after him, they 
 call ' the castle of our Lord." Some other Persian Mo- 
 hammedan sects, have a sort of a mystical divide Penta, 
 consisting of Mohammed, Ali, Fatima, and her two 
 sons Hasan and Hosein. The doctrine of the Imamat 
 consists in the belief, that the saints, to whom they pay 
 divine homage, called Imams, are constant divine self- 
 revelations in human forms, and that the soul of every 
 I main, goes over at death into the body of his successor. 
 Similar doctrines are met with among the Buddhists. 
 Aryans, therefore, coincide in their religious doctrines 
 and conceptions of Deity, although some of them are 
 Polytheists, others of them are Pantheists and others 
 again are Monotheists. 
 
 d. The Prophet and the prophetic institution are 
 phenomena of almost exclusively Semitic occurrence. 
 There were, indeed, holy men and inspired seers among 
 the Aryans too, but, with the exception of Zoroaster, who 
 certainly was not free from Semitic influences, the Aryan 
 seers were altogether different from the Semitic prophets. 
 The Aryan seer was a man, who brought himself into 
 a state of exaltation by means of external or internal ex- 
 citations, and as it were engulfed himself in the Deity, 
 or held intercourse with him in visions. The Semitic 
 prophet, on the other hand, was a sharply expressed hu- 
 man individual, who stood over against a similarly 
 sharply expressed divine individual, with whom, 
 as it was believed, he held direct intercourse, negotiated, 
 and even at times called the Deity to account. The Se- 
 mitic conception of the relation of their God to the pro- 
 phet, was that of a king to his favored servant. The Se- 
 mitic prophet was always a human being, who sought 
 to obtain the good will and love of his God ; the Aryan 
 saint, on the contrary, was often regarded, even by the 
 Mohammedan Persians as a divine incarnation ; and 
 whether he was Heathen or Mohamjpedan Aryan, his
 
 42 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 desire was to be united to and lost in the Deity. The 
 former of these, the Mohammedan Persians call Tauchid, 
 i. e., "Union," and the latter Fana, i, e., "the vanishing," 
 by which is meant the vanishing of ones own personal- 
 ity, and its absorption in the Deity. 
 
 e. The God of the Semites is, as was said before, as 
 sharply an expressed individuality as is the Semite him- 
 self. One consequence of this is, that the doctrine of 
 Fate, to which the gods too are subject, was not devel- 
 oped among the Semites ; for the Semitic God moves 
 freely ana does whatever he pleases. So too has the doe- 
 trine of human free will found most acceptance among 
 the Semites. In Mosaism the doctrine is strongly insist- 
 ed upon, that man is a perfect master of his creations, 
 for which too he is fully responsible- In Islamism the 
 Arabs began to busy themselves very early about pre- 
 destination and free will. Among the Mohammedans 
 the Mutoselites were the chief defenders of the free will 
 doctrine, and orthodox Islamism modified this doctrine 
 a little, but did not deny it. Among the Mohammedan 
 Persians, on the contrary, even among those of them, 
 who otherwise were inclined to the doctrines of the Mw- 
 taselites, the doctrine of the freedom of the will found 
 little favor, but that of fatalism found most acceptance 
 with them and with the Turks. The individualism of 
 
 * the Semite expressed itself, therefore, as much in his 
 political as in his religious life. 
 
 /. From the time that the doctrine of immortality be- 
 came extant among the Semites, the belief in the contin- 
 uous existence of the individual after death prevailed 
 among them. Among the Aryans, on the other hand, 
 this doctrine was either conceived of in a grossly mate- 
 rial way, as was the case, e. g., with the Greeks and Ro- 
 
 . mans, or as the Heathen and Mohammedan Aryans 
 thought of and desired after immortality, namely, the 
 vanishing of the individual in the All, as the absorption 
 of the drop in the ocean. This most highly desired aim 
 the Buddhists called Nirwana, and the Mohammedan 
 Persians called it Fana, the vanishing. The Aryan, who 
 permitted himself to be absorbed of the civil state, de- 
 sired also to be absorbed by and vanish in the All ; the 
 Semite, on the other hand, who did not allow himself to 
 be absorbed by t^e state, but claimed it rather for his
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 43 
 
 own benefit, he found no pleasure in being absorbed by 
 and vanishing in the All. 
 
 g. Still less pleasure did the genuine Semite. whose 
 blood was not mixed with Aryan blood, as was the case 
 with the later Syrians, find in Asceticism and Monasti- 
 cisrn. To the first they found, on the whole, no inclina- 
 tion, although it did occur among them here and there ; 
 but the last they utterly abominated. Self-denial in any 
 way, and especially the denying oneself the pleasures of 
 family life, this did not belong to the Semites. "Thou 
 %\ tit eat and be satisfied, and thou wilt praise God," is 
 said in the Pentateuch; to fast and praise God was not 
 required. " Thy wife like a fruitful vine, thy sons like 
 the branches of the olive tree around thy table," to 
 "dwell in peace under his vine and fig tree," this was the 
 wish of the Semite. To have many children, and if pos- 
 sible many wives, too, these the Semite counted among 
 the joys of life. To remain unmarried is something in- 
 conceivable, almost an unheard-of thing for the Semite 
 generally, and more especially for the Arab. The same 
 was the case with the Jews until the latest times, and 
 even now, too, the statistics of western countries show a 
 comparatively greater number of marriages among Jews 
 than among Christians. The Semitic Mohammedan 
 knows nothing of Monasticism, so that the Arabs say, 
 there is no Monasticism in Islam. There were, indeed, 
 " Xuhada" among the Arabs, a sort of people who led 
 a secluded life, but they were comparatively few only, 
 and as a general thing, these few too began it in their 
 mature age, after having already enjoyed the pleasures of 
 life, and often in excess. It is a very remarkable fact 
 that suicide is a very rare occurrence among the Arabs, 
 who otherwise are noted for their bravery ; sober-mind- 
 edness and a dislike against every kind of self-denial, 
 protect them from such an extravagance. Among the 
 different Aryan nations, however, although acknowledg- 
 ing four radically different religions, we find a strong in- 
 clination to Asceticism as well as to Monasticism. There 
 are ascetics and monks among Christians as well as among 
 Persian Mohammedans, as among Brahmins and Budd- 
 hists, too. 
 
 A~ This sharply expressed Individualism of the Se- 
 mites, which does not easily subject itself to definite order
 
 44 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 and authority, and which permits no imposition of ,-[>ir- 
 itual fetters upon itself, this Individualism may also be 
 the cause why in the Semitic religions of .Judaism and 
 Islamism, there are no well defined and established dog- 
 mas, from which there should not be permitted a hair- 
 breadth's deviation, as the case is with the Aryans. 
 There are indeed certain fundamental doctrines in those 
 two religions, from which dogmas no departure is allow- 
 ed, e. g., the Divine Unity, revelation, providence, re- 
 wards and punishment, but of these a general acknowl- 
 edgement qnly is required ; but how these are to be con- 
 ceived of, about this there was much, indeed, written 
 and disputed, yet they were never defined precisely, and 
 rather left, more or less, to the individual mind. When 
 Persian (Aryan) influence became very powerful at the 
 court of the Chalifs of Bagdad, there were attempts made 
 now and then to define more precisely certain of these 
 fundamental doctrines, but these attempts always met 
 with strong resistance, and the definitions of one day 
 were rejected the next. It is, therefore, a remarkable 
 phenomenon, that while we find thousands of books 
 among Jews and Mohammedans, which teach about re- 
 ligious observances, there are relatively few works which 
 treat about religious dogmas, while the very opposite of 
 this is the case with the Aryans. 
 
 III. As a third main quality of the Semites, we de- 
 signated : Depth and inwardness of the affections (Ge- 
 mutJi}, quick and easy excitibility of the same, and conse- 
 quently, receptivity for humane ideas, inclination to be- 
 nevolence, quick enthusiasm for an idea, exaltation of 
 the mind, of an idea above material power, a more spirit- 
 ual conception of the external world, and an inclination 
 to Idealism. These qualities of the Semites manifest 
 themselves in the following phenomena in which they 
 sharply contrast with the Aryans. 
 
 1. The Semites, and signally so the Hebrews, are the 
 originators of new religious conceptions and views, 
 which were almost unknown even to the most cultivated 
 of the heathen Aryans. The religions of the heathen 
 are based on the idea, that the Deity is very powerful, 
 and is able to spread good and evil ; it is, therefore, 
 necessary to be on a good footing with it, to attain which, 
 various, and for the most part grossly sensuous meAs,
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 45 
 
 were resorted lo. Religion had the character of a com- 
 promise between the weak, help-needing individual and 
 the strong help-spreading Deity. Religion as a concern 
 of the heart, religious inwardness, love and resignation 
 to God, the idea that God is all-kind and all-merciful, all 
 these are, on the other hand,the products of the susceptible 
 and feeling Semites, and especially of the ancient 
 Hebrews, to whom humanity can never be sufficiently 
 thankful. Religious hymns like the Psalms, no nation and 
 no -ingle literature of the world can show, and they could 
 only originate among a people, which occupied the first 
 piace, even among the deeply feeling Semitic race. The 
 religious hymns of the Greeks and ancient Hindoos, 
 stand in relation to those of the Hebrews, as the wild 
 flowers stand to odoriferous roses and lilies. 
 
 2. With the idea of Deity, even the most cultured 
 nations of antiquity, combined only the idea of power, at 
 times also the idea of Justice, but never the idea of 
 morality. But it was a Semitic nation, and this again 
 the ancient Hebrew nation, which taught humanity to 
 conceive of God as a principle of morality, as the very 
 ideal of holiness and purity. It is from this people too, 
 that the doctrines of morality proceeded, and for these 
 we search not in the, otherwise so highly praised, works 
 of classical antiquity, but we look for these in the Bible. 
 
 3. So likewise the humane doctrines of exercising 
 kindness and mercy towards the poor, the oppressed, 
 and the helpless; of treating the slave, nay even the 
 least with kindness, these blessed doctrines proceeded 
 chiefly from a Semitic nation, and I dare say it, 
 although anticipating decided contradiction until this 
 day, these are practiced more by Semites than Aryans. 
 We do not wish to say by this that those doctrines were 
 totally unknown to the cultivated nations of antiquity; 
 but they were not of such high import with them, they 
 had not become part of their flesh and blood, as is the 
 case with those modern nations, who profess those 
 religions, which were founded by the Semites. Searching 
 in the classical writings of antiquity in the pre-Christian 
 period, where do we find the precepts of Love to our 
 fellow-man ; i. e. helping the poor, the suffering, treating 
 kindly the slave, nay even the beast with mercy ? In the 
 laws of Manu, we meet, indeed, here and there, with
 
 46 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 similar precepts, but along with these we meet with the 
 most cruel precepts against the Farias and the mixed 
 cash's. That even the foreign slave was not allowed to 
 be mutilated, that the killing of him was to be punished 
 with death, that even the beast should be allowed a day 
 of rest, these the Pentateuch prescribes. The Mosaic 
 precepts of not yoking together the ox and the ass, 
 whose powers are unequal, of not muzzling the ox while 
 threshing, these are precepts which go far beyond the 
 endeavors of even our societies for preventing cruelty to 
 animals. Have we, although we are Christians, any 
 precepts like that of Moses, forbiding the distraint of the 
 artisan's tools, which he needs for his maintainance, or a 
 precept commanding the returning at night of the bed- 
 ding which was taken for debt during the day ? * 
 
 Even in the Rabbinical literature of the middle* ages, 
 there are thousands of precepts inculcating brotherly 
 love, kindness, and mercy to the slave, and even towards 
 the beast. There are in the Koran a number of places, 
 where the giving of alms is spoken of as the holic-st duty 
 of man. And how do the Semites practice these pre- 
 cepts ? We answer, more zealously than the Aryans, 
 although these are the disciples of the former. There is 
 not a Jewish congregation in which one or more benevo- 
 lent institutions are not to be found. The benevolence of 
 the Jews, of Western Jews, is almost proverbial, so that 
 unprejudiced Christians point to it with shame at their 
 own delinquency. The chase is an abomination to the 
 Jew who can not understand how a person can have the 
 heart to shoot down a poor bird, who perhaps just went 
 out to find food for its young ones, and that for the mere 
 pleasure of a few moments. Angling, too, the Jew is 
 not fond of, his heart aching at the sight of the animal's 
 writhing on the sharp hook in its mouth. The giving 
 of alms, plays a great part among Mohammedans too, 
 and rich Moslems are zealous in building hospitals, erect- 
 ing caravanseries for travelers, aud digging wells by the 
 road side. 
 
 It will be objected here, that these doctrines did not 
 proceed from all the Semites, but first and last from the 
 
 * Some but not all States of this Union, have made a law of 
 these precepts. Tr.
 
 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 47 
 
 Hebrew nation only- To this we answer, that however 
 talented a nation may be, it will distinguish itself in that 
 thing only, the germ of \vhirh i.s to be found in the entire 
 race to which that nation belongs. The most gifted 
 Semitic nation will never accomplish in art and science 
 that which the Aryan Greeks did ; but these on the other 
 hand, were totally incapable of accomplishing that, 
 which the Hebrew nation did in the points mentioned 
 above. No nation can overstep the moral and intellect- 
 ual bounderies set for its race. The germ of the moral 
 and intellectual talents of the Hebrews is to be found also 
 among other Semitic nations, as the germ of Grecian 
 talents is to be found among other Aryans, too. And 
 the shady side too of this moral disposition of the Semites 
 is manifested in the blemishes of their character. Among 
 these blemishes must be mentioned a sharply expressed 
 passion for the female sex, which passion, however, the 
 better part of humanity would not put on the shady side. 
 We do not mean, however, to say by this, that the 
 Aryans are ignorant of this passion, but only the Arab 
 is a real virtuoso in love affairs, so that a mere hearsay 
 about a beautiful woman in some nomadic tribe is suf- 
 ficient to kindle him into a flame and rob him of all his 
 rest and comfort. But the hate and the vengeance too of 
 the Semite is as mighty and strong as is his love, and 
 this i.s perfectly natural. Theavenging of blood is a genuine 
 Semitic feeling, and although this is not altogether un- 
 known to other races too, still among the Arabs it is in 
 a measure legally systematized, and there are some tribes 
 among them among whom the laws of blood avenging 
 are traditionally propogated. When an Arab meets 
 another stranger Arab on his journey, they usually do 
 not mention their names and descent to one another, 
 lest they should find out that one of their ancestors killed 
 the other one's, and so the avenging of blood would have 
 to be exercised. Mosaism sought to limit this avenging of 
 blood as much as possible, but apparently without suc- 
 cess for a long time. The Semite is very sensitive, irri- 
 table, violent and bitter in polemics. 
 
 4. Heroes and heroism, war and carnage are the sub- 
 ject matter of the heroic sagas and epio poems of the 
 Aryans. This tendency is to be found in Homer as 
 well as in the Hindoo epos, in the Nibelungen and in the
 
 48 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 Srli.ilmameh, in the Northern and in the Slavic epos. 
 But the celebrated hero of Semitic saga is a wise man, a 
 prophet, a saint, and the theme of it is, wisdom and piety. 
 King Solomon hardly waged any war, and still he is 
 after David, the most celebrated King of the nation of 
 Israel, and that because of his wisdom. National tradi- 
 tion relates, that God once appeared to him in a dream, 
 and said unto him : " Ask what should I give thee." And 
 the King desired neither length of days, nor riches, nor 
 victory over his foes, but said : " Give, therefore, unto 
 thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, 
 and that I might discern between good and evil, " The 
 fame of this unwarlike but wise King spread to the 
 uttermost confines of the Semitic countries, and from the 
 far distance there came a Semitic queen to admire his 
 wisdom and try him with riddles. The Semitic King 
 prepared no chase and no military parade for his royal 
 guest, as an Aryan King would do, but the entertain- 
 ment consisted in a sort of an intellectual tournament. 
 With the King of Tyre too, Solomon kept up accord- 
 ing to Flavius Josephus, a learned correspondence, in 
 which they proposed to each other difficult problems. 
 The great heroes of Islam, such as Chalid, Jaad ben 
 "Wakkas, Okba, &c., who in the space of a few years 
 established an empire as great as the Romans did after 
 centuries, only the names of these heroes are almost forgot- 
 ten by the Mohammedans, but every good Mohamme- 
 dan knows well the names of those who have transmitted 
 the traditional religious doctrines called Ahlu '1 'Hadis. 
 The Ashab, i. e. the companions of Mohammed, their 
 successors, and the successors of these successors all of 
 whom propagated to real or pretended doctrines of Mo- 
 hammed, these are known to all. Almost every one 
 knows the great teacher of the traditions Hasan-el-Basri, 
 but hardly any one knows who Chalid was. Character- 
 istical of this tendency of the Arabs is the vast number of 
 biographical works in their literature. These works re- 
 late principally to such men who were active as savans or 
 poets. Every large city and every province possessed a 
 biographical collection of its notable men. But a learned 
 Arab of Spain, Ibn-Hazm, in the 12th century already 
 expressed his astonishment, that the inhabitants of Cho- 
 rasan, Taboristan, Gorgan, Kerman, Rei, <&c., who were
 
 mostly Aryans ; possessed no biographical -works about 
 their learned men. It seems, therefore, that these were 
 less respected, and less attention was paid them, than 
 was the case in those lands which were principally in- 
 habited by Semites. 
 
 5. The founders of Aryan dynasties were mighty he- 
 roes, successful generals who distinguished themselves 
 by bravery and strategic talents. Even in our own century 
 we see a man founding a dynasty, whose chief merit con- 
 sisted in his being the greatest general of his time. A 
 highly cultivated nation was so blinded by the brillia/icy 
 of his military powers, that to its own misfortune it made 
 as his successor a relative who only shared in his name 
 and in his bad qualities. It was different from this among 
 the Semites. The founders of their dynasties were 
 as a rule wise and holy men, or offsprings of such, or 
 generally speaking they were defenders of some real or 
 pretended new idea. The claims of the Alides, Omogaded 
 and Abbosides to the Chalifate were based on their near 
 or remote consanguinity to the Prophet, and on the ser- 
 vices which their ancestors rendered in the dissemination 
 and support of Islam. In the tenth century the Alides 
 succeeded in founding a great empire on the mere pre- 
 tence of being Alides, and thus descendants of the pro- 
 phet Mohammed. The founder of the Almoravit dynasty 
 in North Africa and subsequently in Spain was a mis- 
 sionary who preached Islamism to the Berbers. The 
 founder of the Almohade dynasty in Spain, was a saint 
 who preached a new doctrine concerning the unity of 
 God, from which too the dynasty is said to have derived 
 its name. The mighty princes of the Karmates came 
 forward as reformers of Islam, and in this way attained 
 to dominion and power. The same thing took place al- 
 most in our own time with the Wahabites, of whom we 
 have recently received such interesting information 
 through the English traveler Palgrave. The founder of 
 this mighty empire in central Arabia, took up the sword 
 as the disciple of a reformer of Islam, whose doctrines 
 he wished to promulgate, and so he attained to dominion. 
 His descendants too to this day profess to be the defend- 
 ers of a purified Islam. 
 
 When the Chalifate fell to pieces, and a number of 
 small states were formed on its ruins, then most of the
 
 founders of the new dynasties in the eastern provinces, 
 which were inhabited by Aryans, were either proficient 
 military leaders, or former governors of states ; but in the 
 western provinces, which were inhabited by Arabs, the 
 founders of new dynasties were principally pious, holy 
 men, and those who defended some new doctrine. 
 
 The union of priesthood and royalty in one person is 
 something peculiarly Semitic , but the priest could 
 necessarily represent a spiritual power, and only through 
 this could he exercise his material power. 
 
 6. The most excellent attribute of an ideal king 
 among the Aryans is bravery ; among the Semites, on 
 the other hand, it is wisdom, justice, and piety. King 
 David was and is admired by the Jews, not because he 
 was a hero and freed Israel from its enemies, but because 
 of his piety, because of his being a holy poet, and the po- 
 etic author of the Psalms. Nay, his heroship was account- 
 ed to him as a fault, for when he wished to build a tem- 
 Ele, the prophet told him, in the name of God : " Thou 
 ast shed much blood, and carried on wars, thou ought - 
 est not, therefore, to build a house dedicated to my name, 
 because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth before 
 .my face." In the books of Kings it is mostly recorded 
 what the kings of Israel did that was pleasing or not 
 pleasing in the sight of God, while their military under- 
 takings are either not mentioned at all, or very briefly, 
 and merely in passing. The Maccabeans, too, were re- 
 vered, not that they fought like heroes, but because of 
 the idea for which they fought. So Ali is revered by 
 the Arabs chiefly on account of his great piety and re- 
 puted wisdom. The Arabians are much like the Biblical 
 historians. They too speak of the wars of the Chalifs 
 in so far chiefly as these were waged for the defense or 
 dissemination of Islam; otherwise they record of the 
 Chalifs, that they observed strictly the religious rites, 
 that they offered regularly the canonic prayers, made so 
 and so many pilgrimages to Mecca, gave much alms, es- 
 tablished schools and hospitals, exercised justice, patron- 
 ized learned men and poets, and made them many rich 
 presents ; of one and another, too, it is related that he 
 was himself a Shair, Fasih, and Balig, i. ., a poet, elo- 
 quent, and an orator, etc. We have already intimated 
 above that the Chalif was regarded chiefly as a spiritual
 
 head man, who actually performed religious functions, 
 e. g., speaking the Friday prayer from the pulpit of the 
 principal Mosque. The same did his representatives, 
 the governors of the provinces, in his name. 
 
 7. With this moral tendency of the Semites, it was to 
 be expected that they did not carry on war from love of 
 adventure, bellicoseness, love of fame, or for the sake of 
 redeeming a so-called military fame. And such was 
 really the case ; for their wars had either a practical aim, 
 t. ., to defend themselves against the enemy, to shake off 
 his yoke, or to obtain spoils ; or they had an ideal aim, 
 fighting for the defense and dissemination of a certain 
 idea. Warpr e, was never the object of the Semites. 
 This is, also, not the case with the Aryans, who had and 
 who have, in a measure, even to this day, a desire for 
 and a pleasure in war, which is often for them not sim- 
 ply a means but an object of itself. 
 
 8. In a race which knew so well the value of its 
 moral riches, it would be natural to find in it martyrs 
 for an idea, more frequently than in other races. % How 
 
 frandly prominent are such men as the prophets Elijah, 
 eremiah, and some others, who devoted their whole 
 life to a high moral idea, enduring sufferings, persecu- 
 tions, want, and misery for it, and in spite of these, pro- 
 claiming that idea fearlessly and boldly before the 
 mighty ones of the earth ! In the times of the first 
 Maccabeans, the Jews were the first and only people of 
 the ancient world, who were ready to die in masses for 
 an abstract idea. The Greeks had absolutely no con- 
 ception of such a phenomenon, and none of them who 
 spoke about the Jews, failed to notice this remarkable 
 fact, that this strange little nation was sooner ready to 
 die than violate the Sabbath. When, later on, the half 
 crazy Caius Caligula commanded his image to be erected 
 everywhere and worshiped, the world obeyed ; but the 
 Jews refused to obey the behest of the emperor, and 
 thus they went with full consciousness into inevitable 
 destruction. When the Jewish delegates came to Rome 
 to pray for the mercy of revoking that edict, they were 
 the objects of derision in the sight of the court people, 
 who could not at all conceive how an entire nation were 
 willing to die for a metaphysical idea. What the Jews 
 have suffered for their religion down to modern times
 
 52 THE SEMITIC NATIONS. 
 
 how many thousands of them suffered death at the stake, 
 this is well known to all. The Arabs too have had 
 many fanatical and enthusiastic martyrs of their faith. 
 Among the Aryans, martyrdom for an idea began chiefly 
 with the introduction of Christianity, preached to them 
 by Semites. In the ancient world there were martyrs 
 for the good of the State, because in other respects too, 
 the individual was absorbed by it, while martyrdom for 
 an abstract idea was a thing of extremely rare occur- 
 retfce. 
 
 9. The subject of schools played almost always among 
 the Semites, and plays even to a certain extent now, a 
 by far higher and more important part, than among the 
 Aryans. To instruct or cause to instruct children, to 
 disseminate, doctrine and knowledge, and especially to 
 establish elementary schools, is regarded in Judaism as 
 well as in Islam, as a religious duty, as an act well pleas- 
 ing in the sight of God. To receive money for instruct- 
 ing was regarded not only as unseemly, but as sinful. 
 The teacher was paid only for his loss of time during 
 which he could earn nothing. Compulsory general at- 
 tendence in school was introduced among the Jews dur- 
 ing the time of Christ, but two hundred years before 
 that time too, there were elementary schools everywhere 
 and as it would seem, maintained at public cost. A city 
 says the Talmud, which has no elementary schools in it 
 is to be excommunicated or even destroyed. It is through 
 elementary schools, it is further said there, that the 
 world is preserved. Certainly a great truth. The voice 
 in Daniel : " And they that make others wise shall shine 
 as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn 
 many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever ;" 
 this the rabbis apply to elementary teachers, who teach, 
 of course, gratuitously, or nearly so. A precept of the 
 rabbis is to honor one's teacher, from whom one had re- 
 ceived the essential parts of his knowledge, more even 
 than his father, for, say they, this one gave you your 
 physical life only, but the other the spiritual life. To 
 this day there is actually not a single Jew, who does not 
 instruct his boys ; and the congregation provides in- 
 struction for the poor and the orphan. Similar to this 
 are the views of Islam, also of Semitic origin. At a 
 time when the highest personages of Europe could nei-
 
 ther read nor write, there was the greatest zeal mani- 
 fested among Arabian princes and private persons in es- 
 tablishing elementary schools, and Medresen a sort of 
 middle or high school as well as public libraries. At 
 the time of the Chalifs in Spain, there were many pri- 
 vate and public libraries whose catalogues filled many 
 volumes. The learned man was always held in higher 
 esteem among the Semites than among the Aryans. The 
 oourts of the Chalifs of Bagdad and Cordova, as well 
 as those of minor princes, were the gathering placesof 
 learned theologians, grammarians, historians, poets, and 
 literary men of all sorts. The potentates manifested the 
 greatest zeal in attracting to themselves men of learned 
 and poetic renown, and endeavored to captivate them by 
 extravagant princely gifts. The salons of the Arabian 
 princes and magnates of the empire, during the flow of 
 Arabian culture, resembled very much the salons of the 
 French at the time of Voltaire, D'Alembert, Diderot, 
 etc. Nay, some Arabian princes themselves sought the 
 honor of literary fame. 
 
 10. A beautiful word spoken at the proper time, re- 
 joices the Semitic heart, and many a death warrant has 
 such a word caused to be revoked. Arabian historians 
 have many an example like this to relate. A beautiful 
 passage can throw the Semite still more in an intoxica- 
 tion of enthusiasm, nay, even overpower him and make 
 him feel beside himself. When a new poet arises in an 
 Arabian tribe, it is even to this day congratulated by 
 deputations from other tribes on that auspicious event. 
 
 11. It is a very remarkable phenomenon, that an 
 imageless adoration of the Deity proceeded from and 
 maintained itself almost exclusively among the Semites. 
 It is well known what terrible conflicts took place be- 
 tween image destroyers and image worshipers, but the 
 first succumbed. The Semites too were originally wor- 
 shipers of images, and among them too, in Palestine 
 namely, there was a century of conflicts between the de- 
 stroyers and the worshipers of images, but in this case 
 the latter succumbed. Is here not a manifestation of a 
 greater ability, or if you choose, of a greater inclination 
 on the part of the Semites, to conceive the external 
 world spiritually, than on the part of the Aryans ? 
 
 12. The idealism of a nation manifests itself best,
 
 in its desires and hopes. When, therefore, we read the 
 writings of the Israelites, a phenomenon becomes salient, 
 which is unique in its kind. What did this people de- 
 sire, and for what did it hope ? It desired and hoped 
 for the time to come in the which all the nations of the 
 earth should seek the truth and find it; a time in the 
 which all nations should reforge their swords and spears 
 into sickles and pruning hooks, that no nation should 
 lift the sword against another, when men should not ex- 
 ercise in the practice of war, when, universal peace should 
 prevail, and knowledge and insight should fill the whole 
 earth. What did and what do the Aryan nations yet 
 think, who have become acquainted with the Bible for 
 the last thousand and five hundred years of this ideal- 
 ism ? Only in these last years, when the fury of war 
 had soaked the fields of Europe over richly with human 
 blood, only now some comparatively few noble men 
 lifted up their voices and preached that which Isaiah 
 proclaimed already two thousand years ago. But as long 
 as there are men to whom war is a diversion, and who 
 even find pleasure in it, so long is there no salvation for 
 humanity. 
 
 I have here, although myself a Semite, not ignored 
 the faults of the Semites, but pointed out also their 
 good qualities. But in spite oi this bright side of the 
 Semitic character, yet was the culture of the Semite a 
 one sided one, for reasons which we mentioned; and our 
 civilization too would have been a one-sided one if the 
 Semites alone were our teachers and leaders. Happily, 
 our culture consists of a union of the products of both 
 Semitic and Aryan culture ; for our modern culture 
 dates principally from the 16th century, when the Bible 
 and classical literature were, so to say, discovered anew 
 in western Europe. From the ancient Israelites, who 
 in a spiritual respect occupy the highest rank among 
 the Semites, we have received, through the intervention 
 of Christianity, our daily bread, i. e., pure conceptions 
 of God, and the doctrines of humanity and morality ; 
 from the Greeks, on the other hand, who occupied equal- 
 ly the highest rank among the Aryans, we have re- 
 ceived all that belongs to the improvement and beauti- 
 fying of human life, i. e. t art, in the widest sense of the
 
 word, and science. We have already almost reached the 
 intellectual height of the Greeks; nay, in many re- 
 spects, we have even overreached it ; the above de- 
 scribed idealism of the ancient Israelitic nation, let us 
 hope that our grand-children's children will reach. May 
 those whom God has entrusted with the holy duty of 
 protecting us, care for our protection and safety in ac- 
 cordance with existing circumstances; but we learned 
 men, whom God has granted the mercy of being able to 
 devote our entire lives to the searching out of the Truth 
 and the dissemination of a higher culture, we men of 
 peace and science, we must so labor in work and in 
 writing, that that idealism should be realized when man 
 shall make a sickle out of his sword ; that universal 
 peace should reign, and that the whole of humanity 
 should be filled with knowledge and understanding.