The subject-matter of the Mishnah includes both law and morality, the affairs of the body, of the soul, and of the mind.

Business, religion, social duties, ritual, are all dealt with in one and the same code.

The fault of this conception is, that by associating things of unequal importance, both the mind and the conscience may become incapable of discriminating the great from the small, the external from the spiritual.

Another ill consequence was that, as literature corresponded so closely with life, literature could not correct the faults of life, when life became cramped or stagnant.

The modern spirit differs from the ancient chiefly in that literature has now become an independent force, which may freshen and stimulate life.