and sensuous.  They are derived in general from an imitation of nature.  “If one looked only to the Semitic languages,” says M. Renan,[31] “one would say, that sensation alone presided over the first acts of the human intellect, and that language was primarily nothing but a mere reflex of the external world.  If we run through the list of Semitic roots, we scarcely meet with a single one which does not present to us a sense primarily material, which is then transferred, by transitions more or less direct and immediate, to things which are intellectual.”  Derivative words are formed from the roots by a few simple and regular laws.  The noun is scarcely inflected at all; but the verb has a marvellous wealth of conjugations, calculated to express excellently well the external relations of ideas, but altogether incapable of expressing their metaphysical relations, from the want of definitely marked tenses and moods.  Inflections in general have a half-agglutinative character, the meaning and origin of the affixes and suffixes being palpable.  Syntax scarcely exists, the construction of sentences having such a general character of simplicity, especially in narrative, that one might compare it with the naive utterances of an infant.  The utmost endeavour of the Semites is to join words together so as to form a sentence; to join sentences is an effort altogether beyond them.  They employ the {lexis eiromene} of Aristotle,[32] which proceeds by accumulating atom on atom, instead of attempting the rounded period of the Latins and Greeks.

The common traits of character among Semitic nations have been summed up by one writer under five heads:—­1.  Pliability combined with iron fixity of purpose; 2.  Depth and force; 3.  A yearning for dreamy ease; 4.  Capacity for the hardest work; and 5.  Love of abstract thought.[33] Another has thought to find them in the following list:—­1.  An intuitive monotheism; 2.  Intolerance; 3.  Prophetism; 4.  Want of the philisophic and scientific faculties; 5.  Want of curiosity; 6.  Want of appreciation of mimetic art; 7.  Want of capacity for true political life.[34] According to the latter writer, “the Semitic race is to be recognized almost entirely by negative characteristics; it has no mythology, no epic poetry, no science, no philosophy, no fiction, no plastic arts, no civil life; everywhere it shows absence of complexity; absence of combination; an exclusive sentiment of unity."[35] It is not very easy to reconcile these two views, and not very satisfactory to regard a race as “characterised by negatives.”  Agreement should consist in positive features, and these may perhaps be found, first, in strength and depth of the religious feeling, combined with firm belief in the personality of the Deity; secondly, in dogged determination and “iron fixity of purpose;” thirdly, in inventiveness and skill in the mechanical arts and other industries; fourthly, in “capacity for hard work;” and, fifthly, in a certain adaptability and pliability, suiting the race for expansion and for commerce.  All these qualities are perhaps not conspicuous in all the branches of the Semites, but the majority of them will be found united in all, and in some the combination would seem to be complete.