The stone here re No. 584. REV. ii. 17. A white stone.] ferred to is such an one as was used in popular judicature, or in elections, the custom being to give the votes in either of these by such stones. These were either white or black; the white was a token of absolution or approbation, the black of condemnation or rejection. There were judges, in the agonistical games, who awarded the prizes to the conqueror by the use of these stones, a white one, with the name of the person and the value of the prize, being given to such as were victorious. Ovid expressly mentions, that black and white stones were used to absolve or condemn persons at Argos. Mos crat antiquus, niveis atrisque lapillis, Metam. lib. xv. lin. 42.' From these quotations, it will be evident that the work before us has not only been composed with considerable labour, but that this labour will be productive of much utility. Among a multitude of observations, however, it will not be expected that Mr. B. should be equally happy :-in some, perhaps, he may be credulous, or may have fallen inadvertently into error, or may have drawn conclusions not justified by the facts stated. We will not positively assert that he has placed too much confidence in the wonderful relations of Mr. Bruce, whatever may be our opinion: but we must confess that we smiled at his having seriously quoted Livy, in order to prove that there have been showers of stones which have continued two days together. His comment on Mark ix. 44. is not such as his system of interpretation requires; and the facts which explain the passage are omitted. The remark on the body of Lazarus, John, xi. 17. respecting a revolution of humours which occupies seventy-two hours in a corpse before it putrifies, has (we believe) as little support from philosophy, as the account, in p. 344, of Sardanapalus introducing the worship of Heliogabalus into Rome,' can derive from chronology. We offer these strictures, not to detract from Mr. B.'s merit, nor to discourage him, but from the same motives which incited him to this undertaking. The arrangement of the observations according to the order of Scripture, both in the Old and the New Testament, will render this work an acceptable book of reference to Divines and bibli cal Scholars. It is also enriched with two useful indexes; and we hope and expect that the author will meet with that encou ragement, which will induce him to prepare a more correct and enlarged edition. ART. ART. VIII. 2. Horatius Flaccus, cum locis quibusdam è Græcis Scrip toribus collatus, quæ Critici in commentariis suis nondum animadverterunt. Accedit Index perpetuus ad Auctores à Wagnero laudatos ; necnon Oda, O Fons, Intermissa Venus, è Latino in Græcum conversa. Auctore Stephano Weston, S.T.B. R.S.S. S.A.S. Editio altera. 8vo. pp. 170. 4s. Payne. THE HE Romans, even in the zenith of their literary glory, were so little inclined to pride themselves on originality, that they avowedly looked up to the Greeks as their models, and were satisfied with the merit of successful imitation. Athens was the fashionable school for philosophy and polite learning; and neither the statesman nor the orator, nor the poet, could be esteemed at Rome, if his mind were not imbued with Grecian science. When the Latin writers of the Augustan age afford such ample proofs of this partiality to the Greeks, it would be strange to suppose that Horace could be an exception. Indeed, though only the son of a freedman, he had enjoyed the advantages of an Athenian education, was thus enabled to taste the elegance of the Grecian writers, and felt solicitous of transferring their beauties into his own language. The complexion of his thoughts, the turn of his expressions, and the structure of his verse, are Grecian; and many of his commentators have been employed in tracing them to their original prototypes but not so much in pointing them out as plagiarisms, (for they are not to be classed under this denomination,) as in marking them for assiduous imitations of the writings of that people among whom he acquired the love of science and of the Muses, and the study of which he warmly recommended to his countrymen: -Vos exemplaria Græca Nocturna versate manu, versate diurnâ. Mr. Weston conceives that this task has not yet been completely executed; and he endeavours to shew, in the work before us, that the poet of Venusium may be tracked still farther among the Greeks. He has no wish, however, to detract from the merit of Horace; he rather gives the Roman poet credit for the free use which he has made of his neighbours, and for his successful efforts to clothe the Latin tongue with the richest Attic grace. Though the opinion of Bentley be indisputable, Horatius de Græcis pendet et totus est in illis, Mr. W. does not intend to assert that every instance of coincidence is to be regarded as necessary imitation; nor does he adduce every comparison with this view: sed (continues he) ut monstrarem, quomodo eadem sententia ad exemplar antiquitatis, et pro dignitate optimorum auctorum in diversis linguis exprimi patuerit. Verum enimvero cum alvearia vicinorum Horatius rapiat, et furetur, non ut fucus hoc facit, sed ut apis, cui latrocinari jus est, quique locuin babet in quo furta deponat, quæ adeo modestè transferuntur, ut déducta, non tracta, atque precariò, non vi, venisse videantur. It is no bad compliment to this great poet, to allow that he stole with elegance, and created a kind of right by the happy use to which he applied his stolen goods. In some of the cases of co-incidence here noticed, however, the similarity is so faint, that a jury of critics would not be easily persuaded that Horace really performed an act of theft; or at least they would argue that the thing stolen was so much changed, that the Greek could not with a safe conscience swear to his property. Still, in many cases, Mr. Weston has been fortunate in his detections; and scholars will thank him for the labour which he has bestowed, and for the service which he has rendered: since, independently of the pleasure resulting from the comparison of similar passages, such a collection as Mr. W. suggests may assist, provided that the Greek archetype be pure, in restoring the true reading of an author so dear to the lovers of classical beauty, and the idolaters of the divine attributes of poetry. We transcribe the two following examples, as proofs of the truth of this suggestion: EPIST. LIB. I. XVI. VER. 38. 'mutemve colorem.' Colorem legit Baxter, et nescit cur Bentleius prætulerit colores, sed Bentleii textum firmat locus Plutarchi de Galba ob victimarum signa perterrito, p. 392. 4to. v. 5. Χεούς ἀμείβολι παντοδαπας ὑπὸ δίδ, Ed. fol. p. 1064. Lib. 1. Ode v. Ver. 8. • Consenuit socerorum in armis. • Armis, libri omnes. V. 197. Sic Homerus quem vertit Horatius. ἀλλ ̓ οὐχ ὑἱὸς ἐν ἔνεσι παρὸς ΕΓΗΡΑ. II. & Mihi multo facilius est credere Horatium locum Homeri expressisse, quam omnes codices mendosos esse. Legunt Heinsius et Bentleius arvist Nonne consenuisse potuerunt Romani milites soceris servientes sub rege Medo, tam in armis, quam in arvis, si non contra populares suos, at salfem contra alios socerorum hostes?' The passages which we shall next extract possess such a veri-similitude, that it is most probable that the writer of the one had the other in his mind: Λύπη των Αίδαο τύλαν (ναὶ μοίρας) ἀραξεῖ. Theocr. Idyl. ii. v. 160. Γέγωνέ δ ̓ εἰς δόμους, Η σανίδα παίσασ' ἢ λόγος πέμψας ἔσω. Eurip, Orest. v. 1220. • Fenientes • Venientes in domum antiqui aut clamabant, aut fores pulsabant. Antiquum adbuc obtinet Sicilia fores pedibus pulsandi ante introitum. (Vide Swinburne's Travels in Sicily.) Mos autem ad fores clamitandi, re inusitata, verbis et loquendi forma tantum apud nos manet. To call upon.' Here is also an instance of the mode of expression surviving the custom in which it originated.-To proceed: < Ode xi. Ver. 12. sive puer furens Impressit memorem dente labris notam. • Flora nunquam ab amplexu Pompeii abiit sine morsu, olx adíxlær dæix9. Plutarch. in vita Pompeii, p. 419. 4to. Cum Lysimachus brachia et femur dentibus leonis saucia Demetrii legatis ostenderet; legati cum risu aiebant, suum quoque regem monu lamia in collo non carere. του θηρίου δήγματα ἐν τραχήλω φέρειν. • Δάκνει μοῦ τὸ χεῖλος ἐρωτικῶς. Plut. Vit. p. 901. fol. 1624. Ismeniæ Amores, p. 86.' Ode XXIV. Ver. 8. • Quando ullum invenient parem? Πάντων ἄξισιον ἄνδρα τῶν ἐπὶ χθονὶ • Δεινού Κτείνασ ̓, ὁποῖον ἄλλον οὐκ ὄψει ποτέ. Soph. Trachin. v. 811. Lib. 11. Ode 11. Ver. 6. Notus in fratres animi paterni. ̓Ανὴς ὁμογένης καὶ χάριτας ἔχων πατρός. Orestes Eurip. v. 244. Ode 111. Ver. 1. • Æquam memento rebus in arduis Servare mentem, non secus in bonis. Ετ ̓ ἔστι πάλων πρῶτον εἰδέναι τουλ Φέρειν τὰ συμπίπτοντα μὴ παλιγκότως. Eurip. Fragm. Oenom. p. 460. 4to. v. 2. Ed. Beck.”-- • Nondum subacta ferre jugum valet Cervice. Aapá dicebantur mulieres nubentes. II. o. v. 432. perinde est οἰνδρὶ δαμάζεσθαι, et τλῆναι ανέξος εὐνήν. Virgines vocat Sophocles, Æd. Col. v. 1056, αδμήτας αδελφάς. Et Dianam, των αιν αδμήταν, 1239. Electr. Ajacis αδάμαστος θεα explicatur a Scholiaste παρθένος ἄζυγος. Τον ἄζυγος idem sonat cum adáμaołos, metaphora à juvencis sumpta. Attici uxorem δαμαρία, et virum κύριον, vocant. Ασπασία και κύριος est Aspasia et Peri«les, τουτέστιν ὁ Περικλής. Schol. ad v. 965. ΙΠΠΕΙΣ, Aristoph. ποτὲ δὲ δεμνίων ἀπὸ Πηδα δρομαῖος, πῶλος ὡς ἀπὸ ζυγοῦ. Ode x. Ver. 19. sed improvisa leti Orestes Eurip. V. 44-' Vis rapuit, rapietque gentes. * Αίδος ἀπροϊδης αμφεκάλυψε μυχός Antholog. Ος Aristoph. Thesmoph. v. 170. Vid. Max. Tyr. p. 190. Ed. H. Steph. Paris, 1557. 'Iwan abgórne in proverbium abiit. Τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς Ασίης ορχηστρίδα, την κακοτέχνους Σχήμασιν ἐξ ἁπαλῶν κινυμένην ἐνύχων. • Epigramma Automedontis adeo festivum, ut nihil supra. Brunck, v. ii. p. 2072 Lib. IV. Ode 1. Ver. 3. Non sum qualis eram. Loco oblito. — οὐ γαρ δὴ τόδ' ἀρχαῖον δέμας. Sophocl. Ed. Col. v. 11o. Ut assidens implumibus pullis avis. • Ως δ' ὄροςαπλήσι νεοσσοισι προτέρησι Μάστακ. Il. I. v. 324. eleganter Eschylus in Hesychio. v. Em. ἐπώζειν· ἐπικαθῆσθαι τοῖς τοῖς. Αἰσχύλος, Νιόβη μεταφορικώς. καθημένη Τέκνοις ἐπώζει τοῖς τεθνηκόσιν. 'Şits brooding over her dead children,” The employment of tracing resemblances may be carried to an extreme; and our readers, perhaps, will think that this is the case when Mr. Weston refers Horace's Nil desperandum to the expression of Thucydides, Od velo; and his "Ostendit capitolio" to Lucian's Oros xeivos. Such simple expressions cannot properly be regarded as imitations; nor do they receive any illustration by being placed in juxta-position with those which are similar in another language. This work evinces Mr. Weston's intimate acquaintance with the classics; and his Greek versions of two of Horace's Odes display his acknowleged skill in that language. We hope that this learned author will be induced to execute his purpose of collating, in a similar manner, the Satires and Epistles of Horace; and, in this case, we are of opinion that his labors will be more acceptable to those admirers of the Roman bard who may not be so deeply versed in Greek learning as himself, if Latin translations of the Greek passages be subjoined. ART. |