SHAKSPEARE.

OTHELLO. Act I. Scene 3.

Oth. And, till she come, as truly as to heaven

I do confess the vices of my blood,

So justly to your grave ears I'll present

How I did thrive in this fair lady's love,
And she in mine.

Duke. Say it, Othello.

Oth. Her father lov'd me; oft invited me
Still question'd me the story of my life,

From year to year; the battles, sieges, fortunes,
That I have pass'd.

I ran it through, even from my boyish days,
To the very moment that he bade me tell it.
Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances,

Quibus doceri solet Geographia.

T

Of moving accidents, by flood, and field;

Of hair-breadth scapes i'th' imminent deadly breach;
Of being taken by the insolent foe,

And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence,

And portance in my travel's history:

Wherein of antres vast, and deserts idle,

Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven,

It was my hint to speak; such was the process;

And of the Cannibals that each other eat,

The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads

Do grow beneath their shoulders. These things to hear,
Would Desdemona seriously incline:

But still the house-affairs would draw her thence;
Which ever as she could with haste despatch,
She'd come again, and with a greedy ear
Devour up my discourse. Which I observing,
Took once a pliant hour; and found good means,
To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart,
That I would all my pilgrimage dilate,
Whereof by parcels she had something heard,
But not intentively: I did consent;
And often did beguile her of her tears,
When I did speak of some distressful stroke,
That my youth suffer'd. My story being done,

She gave me for my pains a world of sighs:

She swore-In faith, 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange; 'Twas pitiful, 'twas wond'rous pitiful:

She wish'd, she had not heard it; yet she wish'd

That heaven had inade her such a man: she thank'd me; And bade me, if I had a friend that lov'd her,

I should but teach him how to tell my story,

And that would woo her. Upon this hint, I spake :
She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd;
And I lov'd her, that she did pity them.
This only is the witchcraft I have us'd;
Here comes the lady, let her witness it.

IDEM GRÆCE REDDITUM.

ΟΘΕΛΛΏΝ. ΤΑΓΟΣ ΕΝΕΤΩΝ.

ΟΘ. Ἐν τῷδε δ', ὥσπερ καὶ θεοῖς ἀεὶ λέγω
ὅσ', ἱμέρου πλάναισιν, ἐξαμαρτάνω,

οὕτω τὰ τοῦδ ̓ ἔρωτος, ὡς κόρῃ τ ̓ ἐμοῦ

· ἐμοί τ' ἐκείνης ἦλθε, πάνθ' ὑμῖν φράσω. ΤΑΓ. μάλιστ', Οθέλλον, εἰπὲ ταῦθ ̓ ὅπως ἔχει. ΟΘ. ἐμοὶ πατὴρ ὁ τῆσδ ̓ ἐτύγχανεν φίλος

γεγώς· καλεῖ δὲ πολλάκις πρὸς δώματα,
καὶ τοῦ βίου με ξυμφορὰς ἀνιστορεῖ,
μάχας θ', όσων μετέσχον, ἀστέων τ ̓ ἀεὶ
χρήζων ἀκούειν δυσμενεῖς προσεδρίας.
ἅπαντα δ' αὐτῷ τὸν λόγον διέρχομαι,
κἀκ παιδὸς, ὡς ἦν, μέχρι τῆς τόθ' ἡμέρας.
ἐνταῦθα δ ̓ οὔδων τλημονεστάτας τύχας,
καὶ πήματ' οἰκτρα, ναυσὶ κἀπὶ γῆς πέδου·
χώπως ἐπ' ἄτης ἐσχάτοισι σώζομαι
ὅροισι, τειχέων θανασίμοις ἐν εἰσβολαῖς·
χώπως ὑπ' ἀνδρῶν πολεμίων ἁλίσκομαι,
βίον τ' ἔχω δούλειον· εἶτ ̓ ἐλεύθερος
πολλὴν θάλασσαν γῆν τ' ἐποίχομαι πλάνης.
κανταῦθ', (ὁρᾶτε μηχανὰς) λέγειν παρῆν
μέγιστα τ' ἄντρα, κἀβάτους ἐρημίας,
κρημνούς, πέτρας τε, κἀξισούμεν ̓ οὐρανῷ
ὀρέων κάρηνα· καὶ τὸν ὠμηστὴν λεων,
Ανθρωποφάγους, δάπτοντας ἀλλήλων κρέα,
καὶ τοὺςὑπ ̓ ὤμοις τὸν πελώριον βροτοὺς
κρατ ̓ αὐξάνοντας. ταῦτ ̓ ἄρ ̓ ἐξηγουμένου
κάρτ ̓ ἦν πρόθυμος Δεσδεμώνη μου κλύειν·
οὐ μὴν τά γ' οἴκου τῶνδε λιμπάνει χάριν,
ἀεὶ δὲ, πορσύνασα κεῖν ̓ ὅσον τάχος,
πάλιν στραφεῖσ' ἄπληστον οὖς παρεῖχέ μοι.
ἀγὼ νοήσας, καιρίαν αὐτήν ποτε

λαβών, πόρον τίν' εὗρον ἅψασθαι φρενῶν,
· ὥστ ̓ ἐκ προθύμου καρδίας μ' αἰτεῖν κόρην
τέλειον εἰπεῖν τῆς ἐμῆς πλάνης λόγον,
ἧς ἂν ἐκείνη βραχέα μὲν πεπυσμένη,
ἀλλ ̓ οὐκ ἀκριβῶς γ', ὥσθ ̓ ἅπασαν εἰδέναι.
· κἀγὼ μὲν οὖν ἐπήνεσ', ἡ δὲ πολλάκις
τέγγει κλύουσα δακρύοις παρηΐδα,
ἐμοῦ τι σημαίνοντος ὧν νέος πότ' ὧν
ἐδυστύχησα. πάντα δ ̓ ὡς εἰρημέν ̓ ἦν,
μισθὸν δίδωσι μυρία στενάγματα
ὡς ταῦτ ̓ ἀληθῶς, φησὶ, θαύματος πλέα,
ὡς δ ̓ οἴκτῳ ἔλεξας, καὶ ποθείν ̓ ὀδύρμασιν.
καὶ μὴν πεπύσθαι μηδὲν ηὔχετ', ἀλλ ̓ ὅμως
ἴσον λαβεῖν θεῶν ηὔχετ ̓ ἄνδρα· καὶ χάριν
τῶνδ' ἔσχεν· εἶπε δ', εἴτιν οἶδά που φίλου

CARMINA HOMERICA, ILIAS et ODYS SEA, a Rhapsodorum Interpolationibus repurgata, et in Pristinam Formam, quatenus recuperanda esset, tam e Veterum Monumentorum fide et auctoritate, quam ex Antiqui Sermonis indole ac ratione, redacta; cum Notis ac Prolegomenis, in quibus de eorum Origine, Auctore, et Etate; itemque de Prisca Linguaæ Progressu, Præcoci Maturitate, diligenter inquiritur opera et studio R. P. KNIGHT. Lond. imp. 8vo. 1820. Treuttel et Wurtz. 1l. 5s.

No. II. [Continued from No. XLVI. p. 361.]

IN number XLVI. of the Classical Journal, some account was given of Mr. R. P. Knight's Carmina Homerica; and it occurs to us, that under the head of Mythology, there were two or three small omissions. One appears to be the printer's; for the writer, if not greatly mistaken, after the word nothing, ("there occurs nothing but the following passage") had put in the margin of his manuscript copy almost; not being ignorant at the time, that there was another short passage in the Prolegomena on Mythology......

Another omission was one of the writer's own. We observed, that Mr. Knight's arguments to prove the Iliad and Odyssey to be by different authors, appeared in general satisfactory and conclusive: but, that the argument from Mythology was, perhaps, not quite so full and clear. In the course of the argument the following passage was quoted from the first book of the Iliad. v. 37.

Κλύθί μευ, ̓Αργυρότοξ, ὃς Χρύσην ἀμφιβέβηκας,
Κίλλαν τε ζαθέην, Τενέδοιό τε ἴφι ανάσσεις,

Σμινθεῦ.

and it is added; "this is all appropriate, because these islands were properly under the dominion of Priam, as Chryses the Priest himself was; that the islands lay off the Trojan coast, and that the places, in which Apollo was there worshipped, were well known, we must suppose, to Chryses, his Priest. None of these circumstances apply to the Apollo of Delos," &c. Eve in the passage quoted above was omitted, which it ought not to have been. For veus was a title given Σμινθους to Apollo for delivering Smintha, a colony of the Cretans near the Hellespont, from Mice. These being called, it seems, in the Phrygian language, vai, Apollo, for the above reason, was called Zeus, and had a temple dedicated to him under that name in Phrygia. This locality constitutes its propriety; and the whole passage therefore seems to answer the purpose for which it was quoted. The title, Smintheus, applied to Apollo, occurs also in Ovid. Metamorph. lib. xii.

-

Where it is added in the same page, Mr. Knight elsewhere observes, that there is in the genuine parts of the Iliad and Odyssey no mention of any of the mystic Deities, nor of any of the rites with which they were worshipped," the word elsewhere does not refer to another part of the Prolegomena, but to p. 13. of his "Inquiry into the Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology," and the words, in Italics, in the genuine parts of, should not have been omitted.

We have in our former number considered Mr. Knight's Carmina Homerica in three points of view; we made a few remarks on, 1. the person and writings of Homer generally; 2. on his description of ancient manners; 3. on his Mytho logy. Our readers will therefore now expect, that we should take in the three other points of view, in which it was proposed to consider them, viz. 4. interpolations and different readings, 5. the comparison of the Iliad and Odyssey. 6. The language of Homer.

Previously, however, to any further observation, we shall present our readers with a specimen of Mr. Knight's way of reading Homer. The first twenty-one lines proceed thus:

ΜΗΝΙΝ αξειδε, θεα, πηλειάδα αχιλειος
ολομένην, τη μυτρό αχαιοισ αλγε' εθῆκεν,
πολλας δ' ἔφθιμος πουέχας αξιδι προϊαπτσεν
μηροίων, αυτoίς δε μελωρί έτευχε κύνεσιν,
οιξωνοισι τε παντσι· διος δ' ετελείετο βουλη