From the palace he would go to the school; after inditing a despatch he would compose a hymn; he would leave a reception of foreign diplomatists to discuss intricate points of Rabbinical law or examine the latest scientific discoveries.

As a poet, his muse was that of the town, not of the field.

But though he wrote no nature poems, he resembled the ancient Hebrew Psalmists in one striking feature.

He sang new songs of thanksgiving over his own triumphs, uttered laments on his own woes, but there is an impersonal note in these songs as there is in the similar lyrics of the Psalter.

His individual triumphs and woes were merged in the triumphs and woes of his people.