Page images
PDF
EPUB

upon which Tertullian says very prettily, that the Christians could not afford to relieve begging men and begging gods too : ' Non enim sufficimus et hominibus, et Diis vestris mendicantibus opem ferre.' Apol. 42.

Van Dale would distinguish between the Galli, and the priests of this goddess; and supposes the Galli to have been rascals of a lower rank.

An oracle of Hecate:

V. 8.

Ἠέριον μετὰ * φέγγος απείριτον, αστεροπληθές,
*Αχραντον πολὺ δῶμα θεοῦ λίπον· ἡ δ ̓ ἐπιβαίνω
Γαίης ζωοτρόφοιο, τες υποθημοσύνησι,
Πειθοῖ τὸ ἀῤῥήτων ἐπέων, οἷς δὴ φρένα τέρπει
Αθανάτων αδαη θνητὸς βροτός.

'Aëriam lucem, et magni stellantia cœli

Culmina, divinos linquo sanctosque penates,
Telluremque peto, quo me tua dicta vocarunt,

Visque arcana precum traxit, queis Numina linguæ
Mortali mulcere datur.

Perhaps it should be thus:

Ηέριον ΚΑΤΑ Φέγγος ἀπείριτον, ἀστεροπληθές,
Αχραντον πολὺ δῶμα ΘΕΩΝ λίπον, ΗΔ ̓ ἐπιβαίνω
Γαίης ζωοτρόφοιο, τεῇσ ̓ ὑποθημοσύνησι,

Πειθοῖ τ' αῤῥήτων ἐπεων, οἷς δὴ Φρένα ΤΕΡΠΕΙΝ
Αθανάτων ΕΔΑΗ θνητὸς βροτός.

2

Vigerus corrects κατὰ and τέρπειν. The rest is mine; θεών for θεοῦ, ήδ' for ἡ δ', εδάη novit for ἀδαῆ. Vigerus conjectures ade placuit; which is wrong, and makes a barbarism in the construction. It should be translated:

queis pectora Divûm

Mortalis mulcere potest."

* Quid si μέγα φέγγος-says a friend of mine.

1

V. 23.

Oenomaus complains that when he himself consulted Apollo on some very important affair, and desired his direction, he received this impertinent answer: 'Ex Tavorgófo10 λάας σφενδόνης ἱεὶς ἀνὴρ, χῆνας ενάριξε βουλαῖσιν ἀσπέτους, ποιηβόρους. 'Gyrovagâ lapides fundâ excutiens, anseres prudenter interfice immensos, herbivoros.'

There is no occasion to make Apollo talk more foolishly than he did; therefore we will try to mend his discourse a little. Vigerus, the editor of Eusebius, did not perceive that these were trochaics; and that instead of Bouratov, consiliis, it should be Boλalow, ictibus.

Ἐκ τανυστρόφοιο λάας σφενδόνης ἱεὶς, ἀνὴρ,
Χῆνας ἐνάριζε βολαῖσιν ἀσπέτους, ποιηβόρους.

Ἐνάριζε. For the sake of metre we may read ἐναρίζου, from ἐναρίζομαι, or ἐνάρισον, from ἐναρίζω, or, which is better, vagile, interficere, by way of ellipsis, with incipe, conare, or some such verb understood. By this most ridiculous oracle, Oenomaus was advised to go and kill geese, by flinging stones at them out of a sling.'

[ocr errors]

By a certain anomaly and irregularity, the Greeks sometimes put the infinitive for the imperative. Alia est phrasis, apud Græcos usitatissima, cujus exemplum est apud Herodotum, iv. c. 163, ubi infinitivus est loco imperativi : σὺ μέν τοι ἥσυχος εἶναι κατελθὼν εἰς τὴν σεωύτου, ad verbum, tu quidem quietus esse redux in patriam. Sic et apud Homerum, Il. i. 255.

σὺ δὲ μεγαλήτορα θυμὸν Ἴσχειν ἐν στήθεσσι.

Vide et

Tu magnanimum animum habere in pectore. vers. 281. 'Non potest subaudiri de oportet, quod alioqui subaudiri in ea phrasi solet, quia antecessit σ tu. Ñe dixeris etiam subaudiendum μévno memento; nain apud Hesiodum in hoc versu, ubi hæc ipsa est loquutio, verbum hoc intelligi nequit.' Oper. et Dier. 616.

[blocks in formation]

• Memor esse arationis tempestivæ, nemo enim dixerit memento memor esse.' Vide vers. 623 et 641. Clericus, Art. Crit. t. i. p. 252.

But I believe that Le Clerc is a little mistaken, and that all these anomalies of the Greek language are elliptical forms of speech, and capable of being supplied one way or other; and in Hesiod, though you cannot say, remem ber to remember, μέμνησο μεμνημένος εἶναι, yet you may say, take care to remember, φυλάττου μεμνημένος είναι·

As we are upon the subject of Oracles, I shall produce two from Socrates the historian, which want emendation. H. E. iii. 23. p. 204.

1. The Rhodians, being under some calamity, and con» sulting an oracle, received this answer:

*Αττιν ἱλάσκεσθαι, θεὸν μέγαν, ἁγνὸν "Αδωνιν,
Εὔβιον, ὀλβιόδωρον, ευπλόκαμον Διόνυσον.

• Attin Deum magnum placate, purum Adonim,
Bonæ vitæ et felicitatis largitorem, pulchra coma prædi-
tum Bacchum.'

I wonder how Valesius could let such lines pass uncor rected. This Atys is so differently spelt and declined, that we cannot determine whether it should be "Ατην, or "Αττιν, or Αττιν, or "Ατυν, or Αττυν, or something else. We may read,

*Ατην ΙΛΑΣΚΕΣΘΕ, Θεὸν μέγαν, ἁγνὸν Αδωνικο

2. The Delphic Oracle, in complaisance to Alexander the Great, made him a god.

Ζῆνα θεῶν ὕπατον, καὶ ̓Αθηνῶν Τριτογένειαν
Τιμᾶτε βροτέων ἐν σώματι κρυπτὸν ἄνακτα,
Ὃν Ζεὺς ἀρίσταις γεναῖς ἔσπειρεν ἀρωγὸν
Εὐνομίης θνητοῖσιν Αλέξανδρον βασιλῆς.

"Jovem Deum summum et Minervam Tritogeniam
Colite in mortali corpore absconditum regein,
Quem felici satu genuit Jupiter, vindicem
Justitiæ mortalibus Alexandrum regem.'

Worship, said the priestess, Jupiter, and his daughter Minerva, and his son Alexander. It should be,

Ζῆνα θεῶν ὕπατον, καὶ ̓Αθηνῶν Τριτογένειαν
Τιμᾶτε, ΒΡΟΤΕΩ, Τ ̓ ἐν σώματι κρυπτὸν ἄνακτα,
Ὃν Ζεὺς ΑΡΡΗΤΟΙΣΙ γοναις εσπειρεν
εῤῥήτοισι is the emendation of Valesius.

IX.

In this book Eusebius hath inserted several lines of a miserable Jewish bard, called Ezechiel Tragicus, which deserved not the honour of being transcribed. Clemens Alexandrinus hath also regaled his readers with some of them, Strom. i. p. 414. and Fabricius gives an account of this Ezechiel, Bibl. Gr. i. p. 679. His verses are very faulty, either through his own ignorance and stupidity, or from injuries done to him by the librarians.

6

Many of the lines might easily be mended; but upon such an author the labour would be ill bestowed. • In scowring an asse's head,' says somebody, nothing is lost, except soap and pains.' But soap and pains are too good to be thrown away.

Gentianus Hervetus thought him an elegant poet: De la Monnoye, a man of better taste, speaks of him with the contempt which he deserves; and supposes that he wrote in the first or second century. Huetius places him a hundred years at least before Christ. It is no great matter when he lived: but I should imagine him to be at least a hundred years older than Clemens Alexandrinus, who cites him, and who flourished towards the end of the second century. See Baillet, Jug. des Savans, t. iv. p. 199.

Χ. 10.

-κατακλυσμοί τε, καὶ ἐκπυρώσεις, Προμηθεύς, Ἰω, Εὐ ρώπη, * Σπαρτοὶ, Κόρης ἁρπαγη— diluvia, incendia, Prometheus, Io, Europa, * Proserping raptus

They are the words of Africanus, who is speaking of the Greek mythology. Σπαρτοι, • Supplendum credo, vel ὀδόντες, vel στρατιῶται, vel aliquid simile. Omnino enim post Europam, de Cadmo, Cadmique militibus ex Draconis dentibus repente satis, locutus videtur.'

So Vigerus, who saw the meaning of the place, but was mistaken in thinking it wanted emendation; for the sol diers who sprang from the Dragon's teeth are called EQ τα by the Greeks, and Sparti by the Latins. See Hygi nus, Fab, 178. and Munker.

XI. 31.

Eusebius, and the Fathers in general, were of opinion that Plato borrowed several things from Moses and the prophets; but the proofs which they produce are usually by no means conclusive and satisfactory.

He says here, Τῆς Ἑβραίων γραφῆς ἐφ ̓ ἑκάστῳ δημιου γημάτων ἐπιφωνούσης, Καὶ εἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς, ὅτι καλόν· καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ πάντων συγκεφαλαιώσει φασκούσης, Καὶ εἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς τὰ πάντα, καὶ ἰδοὺ, καλὰ λίαν. "Ακουε τοῦ Πλάτωνος λέγοντος, Εἰ μὲν δὴ καλός ἐστιν ὅδε ὁ κόσμος, ὅ, τε δημιουρ γὸς ἀγαθὸς, δῆλον ὡς πρὸς τὸ αἴδιον ἔβλεπε. Καὶ πάλιν, Ὁ μὲν γὰρ κάλλιστος τῶν γεγονότων, ὁ δ ̓ ἄριστος τῶν αἰτίων. • Quum etiam, ut quodque perfectum erat divinum opus, hanc sacræ literæ clausulam identidem adjecerint, Et vidit Deus quod bonum esset: itemque ut simul omnia comprehenderent, Et vidit Deus omnia, et ecce valde bona erant: Platonem audi sic loquentem, Atqui si bonus est hic mun dus, si bonus ejusdem artifex, profecto speciem æternitatis imitari maluit. Atque iterum, Nam uti mundus omnium que condita sunt optimus est, ita Deus artificum omnium optimus.'

was

Surely a Pagan philosopher might say that the world

The fairest offspring of the fairest mind,'

« PreviousContinue »