Historical Accounts

concerning

the Author of these Songs.

Ar-Lamech The author uses the pseudonym "Ar-Lamech," likely a reference to the biblical Lamech. In Genesis, Lamech is the first person mentioned as speaking in verse, though here it is used to create a persona of a modern, suffering poet. sprouted from the womb of a large city, which was, however, anything but the residence of good morals, and in a century that was no longer called the golden A reference to the "Golden Age" (Aetas Aurea) of mythology—a time of peace and prosperity. The author suggests he was born into a period of decadence and decline.. He proved this in the very first moment of his birth; for there was great difficulty in bringing him into the world. Indeed, some wise women A traditional term for midwives. who were present at his birth even claimed to have heard the child say: "What am I to do on earth? I am arriving much too late." It is asserted that these words cost him such an exertion of his still unformed, weak organs of speech that he stammered for the rest of his life.