Dodi Ve-Nechdi (Quaestiones Naturales)

form of a dialogue between an uncle and a nephew, found in No. 42 of Munich. The treatise is entitled: ‘My uncle and my nephew,’ ‘Dodi ve-nekdi.’”

Steinschneider had already noted in his H.B. (IX p. 92, 1869) that the celebrated author of the Fox Fables based his dialogue between uncle and nephew upon the “Quaestiones naturales of Adelard of Bath”—a sort of free translation.

What elements of originality exist in Berachya’s work, and to what extent it is a “very free and rhetorical paraphrase” (Steinschneider), will best be judged—and can only be judged—from a comparison of the two Hebrew versions (the Munich and the Bodleian, now printed as far as I know for the first time) with the translation of Adelard contained in this volume.

I can scarcely subscribe to the statement that “though it is well understood the translation of Berachya is not literal, nevertheless, save for Biblical and Talmudic additions, it does not depart much from the original.” To one who has had the advantage of having the full texts of both before him, and has made a thorough study of the subject, it does seem to depart in many respects from the original. The entire treatment on the part of Berachya is different from that of Adelard, who writes not so much from the physical, scientific, or philosophical side, but rather from what was of greater importance to him: the spiritual and religious standpoint.

In many, or at all events in a large number of the sections or chapters, Berachya has done little more than borrow Adelard’s headings or questions, which he uses as a peg, and then formulates the replies to such questions in his own independent method and manner. Towards the end of this introduction, I shall give a general indication, chapter by chapter, of the relationship between the two versions.

There is some truth (but it must be qualified) in the remark (Steinschneider, H.B. p. 85, xiii) “that in regard to Berachya there is no doubt that he composed at least two works, the Fables and the Dialogue, from Christian sources; for the compilation of Jewish material he also made use of Christian ones. In this relation, Berachya enters the circle of those who were the intermediaries for the Jews of Christian culture and literature, and furthermore affords...