4. Short gnomic or didactic verses.
"The Roman Poets of the Republic"
W. Y. Sellar
His proverbs and rules of life seemed to the Israelites so pointed and exhaustive that they attributed to Solomon the entire treasure of their gnomic wisdom, which was afterwards collected into one body.
"The History of Antiquity, Vol. II (of VI)"
Max Duncker
They were not philosophers, for they spoke the language of feeling; but the civilization of which they were the strongest outcome was already tinged with influences derived from early philosophy- especially from the gnomic wisdom of the sixth century and from the spirit of theosophic speculation, which in Aeschylus goes far even to recast mythology.
"The Seven Plays in English Verse"
Sophocles