but dadaleus from δαιδάλεος (synonymous with dadalus, πολυδαί daλos, from dadaλλ), is properly short; examples of which are numerous. We do not lay down this rule, however, in an unqualified manner. P. 385. Quantity of e in compounds.-Silius Italicus makes the e in liquefactus long in one instance, Lib. i. factis fumarunt fervida membris." Ossa lique P. 387, 1. 9. The author is mistaken in saying that the latter syllable of ambo is always short. Ambo florentes ætatibus, Arcades ambo. Ambo propositum peragunt iter. Virg. Ecl. vii. 4. Hor. Sat. ii, 6, v. 99. Ovid. Met. vii. 792. Scilicet invictos ambo certamine cursus Esse deus voluit. P. 386. "A is short in nouns, except the ablative singular of the first declension, and Greek proper names in as," Feminine proper names in ra, from the Greek på, ought also to be excepted. Mittit Hypermnestra de tot modo fratribus uni. Perdat opes Phædra; parces, Neptune, nepoti. ld. Remed. Amor. 743. P. 387. "Y (in the termination), which occurs only in Greek words, is always long." This is a mistake. Moly vocant Superi. Ov. Met. xiv. 292. (from Hom. Od. K. Μῶλυ δέ μιν καλέουσι θεοί.) fatis tibi, Tiphy, negatum. Val. Flacc. v. 104. Perhaps, indeed, the author wrote long by an oversight for short, as in p. 386, 1. 2, quandoquidem for quandoquidem. We noticed another error (among several of less importance) in p. 189, note 2, 1. 6, quidem for quidam. 6. O quid solutis est beatius curis ? Quum mens onus reponit, et peregrino Thus imitated by a modern Latin poet: Catullus, ad Sirm. Tu quoque natali terra sejuncta tot annos Quam pleni gemitus animi brevis ille, reposto In Leigh Hunt's translation of the above poem of Catullus there is a beautiful line, expressive of the " pleni animi gemitus". How gladly do I sink upon thy breast! With what a sigh of full contented rest! One or two remarks in the preface and notes to " Gebirus" worth quoting. are "Nonne igitur menti, subjectus est, inquies, stylus ? Sæpius, mi frater, stylo mens quam mente stylus dirigitur. In excellentibus operum locis, mente aguntur omnia: super reliqua (et aream ea, dii boni! quanto ampliorem occupant) styli magisterium est." We give part of his criticism on Horace's translation of the opening lines of the Odyssey," Dic mihi, Musa, virum," &c. "Ulyssem ait hic (Horatius) et multos homines et multas urbes vidisse. Quidni? Viderunt imbelles; pessimi viderunt infimique; canes porro simiæque: ille autem (Homerus) vices permultas expertum esse rerum fortunarumque, quinetiam perplurima passum ait, idque uno, ut antea, præpollenti, et locum munitissimum occupante verbo." He accumulates a number of passages from Virgil to prove that the letter r has a natural tendency to lengthen the short vowel which precedes it: Omnia vincit amor, et-Equus uterque labor, æqui-Littora jactetur, odiis-&c. &c., adding, that in all these instances the lengthened syllable coincides with a pause in the sense, and that in all, except one, it is preceded by a dactyl: we believe, however, that more exceptions are to be found. 7. The following deserve noticing as some of the commonest instances of inaccurate rendering of Greek words. Opále is translated "to speak," whereas its meaning is, "to Newton in his commentary on Milton, points out another fault in this translation of Horace. "In all these instances, (the exordiums of Homer and Virgil), as in Milton, the subject of the poem is the very first thing offered to us, and precedes the verb with which it is connected. It must be confessed, that Horace did not regard this, when he translated the first line of the Odyssey, Dic mihi, Musa, virum," &c. indicate," "" to intimate." Iovos is rendered "labor;" it is rather "suffering," or "painful exertion." "Iraolai is not "to stand," but "to station one's self." So also its compounds. Пapex is considered as synonymous with præbere, "to afford or supply;" it is difficult to find a word which will exactly express it, but certainly this is not its proper meaning. Palveola is rendered" to appear;" the primary signification, "to show or discover one's self," is, perhaps, the more common. Tyvoxe is rendered as if synonymous with eidévas. The blending of the ideas of defence and revenge, in aμúveiv, tiμwpeïv, &c., renders it difficult to give the force of these words in another language, Γίγνεσθαι ought to be properly distinguished from είναι. Παρεῖναι usually means, to be arrived," "to have come:" máρ 66 ToÚTou evexa, I am come on this account, &c. Oavμálem is not so much to wonder, or to admire, as to regard strongly. Nuv de, following a conditional proposition, as in Thục. i. 68, ɛi μèv ἀφανεῖς που ὄντες ἠδίκουν τὴν Ἑλλάδα, διδασκαλίας ἂν ὡς οὐκ εἰδόσι προσέδει· νῦν δὲ τί δεῖ μακρηγορεῖν, κ. τ. λ. should be translated "but as it is," not "but now." In Latin, labor is misconstrued in the same manner as óvos. Terror is not synonymous with the English word to which it has given origin; it is rather the causing of terror, the act of terrifying; terror from terrere, as timor from timere. Neither does the English word rapid answer to the Latin rapidus, which signifies hasty, violent, impetuous, from rapere. Apparere is not to appear, but to begin to appear, to become an object of sight. These are but a few among an infinity of instances of the same kind. 8. We do not know whether the metaphor, yngas ȧrožúσas, in Phoenix's speech to Achilles, Il. I., has been illustrated by that in Od. Ψ. 156. Κάλλεϊ—οἵῳ περ ἐϋστέφανος Κυθέρεια Χρίεται, κ. τ.λ. Compare Hesiod. "Εργ. 65. χάριν ἀμφιχέαι κεφαλῇ. 9. Macpherson is said to have purposely interspersed his Ossian with fragments of hexameters, as well as with whole lines: perhaps the following was one-its cadence may be easily rendered in Greek: Mourn, ye sons of song, the death of the noble Silthallin. Κλαΐ, ὡς κλαίειν χρή, Σει θάλλινος οἶτον ἀγλαυοῦ. There is certainly a peculiar system pursued, both in the • Milton uses " appear" in the classical sense : With thousand thousand stars, that then appear'd, Paradise Lost, vii. rhythm, and in the formation of the sentences, of Macpherson's work, which it might be not incurious to develope. 10. Apoll. Rhod. iii. 159. Αὐτὰς ἔπειτα πύλας ἐξήλυθεν Οὐλύμποιο νειόθι δ ̓ ἄλλοθι γαῖα φερέσβιος, ἄστεά τ' ἀνδρῶν So, Milton, describing the descent of Raphael, Paradise Lost, iv. 253. till at the gate Of Heav'n arrived, the gate self-open'd wide, &c. Not unconform to other shining globes, Earth and the garden of God, with cedars crown'd 11. Apoll. Rhod. i. 597. Κεῖθεν δ ̓ εὐρυμένας σε πολυκλύστους τε φάραγγας I Οσσης Οὐλύμποιό τ ̓ ἐσέδρακον — Apollonius seems to have had an eye for the phenomena of nature. The only other poet whom we remember as noticing the same remarkable appearance, is the author of " Gebirus," above-mentioned : i. 115. visum-pratis fluere altius æquor. 12. Instances of unique formations of verses in Homer. II. I. 394. Πηλεὺς θήν μοι ἔπειτα γυναῖκα γαμέσσεται αὐτός. There is no other instance of a word consisting of an amphibrachys in this place of the line, followed by a polysyllable; unless 4. 587, may be considered as such: *Ανσχεο νῦν, πολλὸν γὰρ ἔγωγε νεώτερός εἰμι which the enclitic ye may be considered as rendering doubtful, Ω. 753. Ες Σάμον, ἔς τ' "Ιμβρον, καὶ Λῆμνον ἀμιχθαλόεσσαν This is the only instance in Homer of a line ending with a word of six syllables, consisting of a short syllable, a dactyl, and a spondee. With the substitution of a spondee for the dactyl, this termination occurs not unfrequently. This passage was pointed out to us by a friend, who had had occasion to observe its fidelity to nature; we being ourselves livers on land. Αὐτὰς ὃ μοῦνος ἔην μετὰ πέντε κασιγνήτησιν. Il. K. 317. * Φ. 63.—Γη φυσίζοος, ἥτε κατὰ κρατερόν περ ἐρύκει. I This, we believe, is a solitary instance of a pause at the end of the second foot, where that foot is a dactyl. The following agrees better with the ordinary flow of Homer's versification: Γη φυσίζους ἔσχ ̓, ὅτ' ἐσθλόν περ κατερύκει. Such minute observations as the above ought not to be rejected as mere trifling; as by observing what is particularly repugnant to any rhythmical system, we gain a proportional insight into the nature of the system itself. More especially, nothing that has any relation to such a subject as Homer can be considered as uninteresting. 13. "The third method mentioned by Aristotle (of raising the language to the standard of poetry), is—the lengthening of a phrase by the addition of words, which may either be inserted or omitted, as also by the extending or contracting of particular words by the insertion or omission of certain syllables. Milton has put in practice this method of raising his language, as far as the nature of our tongue will permit; as in the passage abovementioned, eremite, for what is hermit in common discourse. But this practice is more particularly remarkable in the names of persons and of countries, as Beëlzebub, Hesebon, and in many other particulars, wherein he has either changed the name, or made use of that which is not commonly known, that he might the better depart from the language of the vulgar." Addison, Critique on Paradise Lost. If, by this, it is intended to imply that Milton is in the habit of coining new forms of received words, ad libitum, it appears to be altogether a mistake. Of Beelzebub we know nothing, except that it is a quadrisyllable in Greek, BeeλeBoux; but Hesebon is the Latin form of Heshbon, as in a religious ode of a modern Latin poet, Semper illimes Esebonis undæ : and eremite, we need not observe, is the original form of hermit. The same will be found to be the case with all the unusual forms which occur in Milton. Paradise Lost, iii. 36. And Tiresias, and Phineus, prophets old— Some of the critics wish to expunge this verse, on account of 'Where Pope (after Chapman) translates xparigor, Hercules. 1 |