Worse than their fathers. — The rapid survey of the past makes it doubtful whether the comparison is made between the generations that came out of Egypt and their immediate followers, or between those followers and their successors. Probably the general thought was that the whole history of Israel had been one of progressive deterioration, reaching its climax in the generation in which Jeremiah lived. His words find a striking parallel in the complaint of the Roman historian (Livy, Præf), or of the poet : —
“Ætas parentum, pejor avis, tulit
Nos nequiores.” — Hor., Od. iii. 6.
“Our fathers’ age, more stained with crime
Than were their sires in older time,
Has brought us forth a later race
Yet more iniquitous and base.”