against the monarch; the crosier, according to the annalist, remained immoveably fixed in the earth, with a radical obstinacy resembling that of the Roman standard on certain occasions, and with an equally good effect. Was the following passage of Silius Italicus intended as a defence by anticipation against the charge, which has been usually brought against him, of distracting his reader's attention by a perpetual change of scene? Flectite nunc vestros, Heliconia numina, gressus init. Polyb. Frag. Lib. xi. 23. 'Αλλά μοι δοκεῖ πεισθῆναι Τίμαιος, ὡς, ἂν Τιμολέων, πεφιλοδοξηκώς ἐν αὐτῇ (sola sc.) Σικελία, καθάπερ ἐν ὀξυβάφω, σύγκριτος φανῇ τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις τῶν ἡρώων, καν αὐτὸς, ὑπὲρ Ιταλίας μόνον καὶ Σικελίας πραγματευόμενος, εἰκότως παραβολῆς ἀξιωθῆναι τοῖς ὑπὲρ τῆς οἰκουμένης καὶ τῶν καθόλου πραξέων πεποιημένοις τὰς συντάξεις. We have here the origin of the modern proverbial phrase, "a storm in a vinegar-bottle." (The above passage, with the whole of the x11th book, from p. 415 to 440, is headed: "Res Locrensium," though it has nothing to do with that subject.) In the catalogue of a classical bookseller lately published, an Aldine Livy is noticed as follows: "Livii Historiarum Decades I. III. et IV.-In beautiful preservation-wants the second decade. IMITATIONS, &c. Nam fratres inter ahenos Præcipui sunto, &c. Pers. Sat. 11. 56. Hence Pope : Where o'er the gate, by his famed father's hand, Dunciad, 1. Quid te, turpissime, bellis Claud. in Eutrop. 1. 271.. Hence Dryden in his translation of Æn. v11. 805. Foemineas assueta manus, sed prælia virgo She chose the nobler Pallas of the Field. super arbore sidunt, Discolor unde auri per ramos aura refulsit. Thus a late poet with characteristic splendor: high above was spread The emerald heaven of trees of unknown kind, Whose moonlike blooms and bright fruit overhead A shadow, which was light, upon the waters shed. Revolt of Islam, XII. A writer in the Adversaria Literaria, (XLVI. 394.) quotes the following lines from Hesiod, with a passage to the same purport from Livy: Οὗτος μὲν πανάριστος ὃς αὐτὸς πάντα νοήσῃ, φρασσάμενος τα κ' ἔπειτα καὶ ἐς τέλος ἦσιν ἀμείνω. "Sono di tre ge ὃς δέ κε μήτ' αὐτὸς νοέῃ, μήτ ̓ ἄλλου ἀκούων ἐν θυμῷ βάλληται, ὅδ ̓ αὖτ ̓ ἀχρήϊος ἀνήρ. Machiavelli's observation is very similar. nerazione cervelli: l'uno intende per se; l'altro intende quanto da altri gli e mostro; il terzo non intende ne per se stesso ne per demostrazione d'altri." We quote the above (being ourselves unversed in the writings of the Florentine politician) from a modern work, remarkable for the beauty and value of its quotations; from which we shall also extract another passage, cited by the author (S. T. Coleridge, in The Friend,) from an old English writer." He (Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk) liked well the Philosopher's division of men into three ranks: some, who knew good and were willing to teach others; these he said were like gods among men : others, who, though they knew not much, were willing to learn; these he said were like men among beasts: and some, who knew not good and yet despised such as should teach them; these he esteemed as beasts among men." It has been asserted that Horace never elides at the end of any Sapphic line, except the third. (We suppose the case of que was excepted; see Lib. IV. Od. 11. 22.) An instance however occurs, Lib. 11. Od. 11. 18. Phraaten, Dissidens plebi, numero beatorum Eximit Virtus No. LI. p. 6. 1. 11. omit "the case of." Ib. 106. end of paragr. 1. read "Virgilian or Miltonian." LII. 229. 1. 27. some words are transposed. In a late book of travels, the words προεδρία Ποταμωνος τοῦ Ao Búvaxтos (part of an inscription found in Lesbos) are translated" the chair (or throne) of Potamo, king of Lesbos." In No. I. of the Nuga (XLVIII. 386.) mention is made of several prevalent errors in the orthography of ancient names. We add a few more instances. One very frequent corruption consists in the substitution of es for a in the terminations of the names of dynasties, as the Seleucides, the Alcmaonides, &c. more especially of modern ones, the Abbassides, the Ommiades, the Sassanides, &c. This, like so many other barbarisms, originates in the imitation of French usages. Egysthus for Ægisthus is also common; similar to which are Hippolitus (otherwise Hyppolitus), Lybia, Cyneas for Cineas (originating in the frequency of a similar beginning), Dyonisius, Thetys (where two independent names are confounded, as in Zenocrates, compounded of Zeno and Xenocrates), &c. Xantippe is common-so also, by an opposite error, Thrasymenus. Ptolemy from ПToAepaios (some write Ptolomy) militates against analogy. Ptolemee, the old form, is better: Ev'n so the Macedon, as tales agree, Dryden. Where Macedon for Macedonian is also observable. Peneüs is ordinarily made a dissyllable, and Eva a trisyllable. Nepenthes is frequently spelt nepenthe; there is no authority, indeed, in Homer, for giving it any name at all. Miss Wright's Gargettium, &c. may be left to sleep with Lady Morgan's Secyonia; but the Edinburgh Reviewer on Demosthenes ought to have known better than to mistake 'Operas for the inhabitants of Oritum. In the poetry of the Anti-jacobin we have Sage laws! Such as Lycurgus loved, when at the shrine Of the Orthyan goddess he bade flog This false orthography originated in Pope's false quantity. GRÆECULA. ΒΟΙΩΤΟΣ. In Amici cujusdam Cantabrigiensis nuptius. In Chrysidem. Τῆς εὐπροσώπου Χρύσιδος ξανθὸν κάρα ἐμὴν ἄνασσαν, ἢ τὰ πρόσθ ̓, ἐθαύμασα· In malam optimi cujusdam auctoris versionem. In Monodiam quandam de R. B. Sheridani obitu. Ad Amicum, qui Tragadia scriptionem suaserat. Vis me Sophoclis dicere barbito, Detinet in latebra Mathesis. Gaudes reclinatus maritæ Κ. • Vid. Baileii Hieroglyphica. Κ. |