Levi, that his honor should not be united unto him, since the priestood was reserved for the tribe of Levi? The greater part of the passage concerning these brothers is wrongly translated; and Mr. Hails is too good a Hebraist not to know it. If the allusions be all To terrestrial objects, why is Judah compared to a lion's whelp, a Couching lion, and an old lion? In the great French work on Egypt, in which the zodiac of Esné is represented, three lions mark the three decans in the sign of Leo, though these have been omitted in a copy of the print, which some of my readers may have seen. What does the Patriarch mean by saying that Zebulun shall be for an haven of ships, and that his border shall be unto Tsidon? If the meaning be taken literally, and without allusion to the signs, Jacob prophesied what was not true, for the border of Zebulun was not unto Tsidon. Every person who has studied sacred geography must know this. My explanation removed the difficulty: Issachar is denominated a strong ass, couching down between two burdens; and Dan is told that he shall be a serpent, and an adder, without its being very easy to tell why, if we follow the common hypothesis. It is said, that Naphtali is a hind let loose; he giveth goodly words. How is this to be understood, and what could the Patriarch mean by an eloquent hind let loose? The LXX give another version; and upon my hypothesis either sense will answer; while neither is very clear according to the usual interpretation. Moses says to Naphtali (Deut. xxxiii.) "possess thou the south and the west." This does not answer to fact if the geographical situation of Naphtali be considered; but is explained by my system. The 22nd verse concerning Joseph, is wrongly translated; but putting this aside, how comes it to be said of Joseph-" thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel?" The Messiah was of Judah; and, therefore, it is clear, that Jacob did not allude to him by these words. When I wrote my Dissertation, this passage embarrassed me. The difficulty is now removed in my estimation; but I should wish to know how it can be explained by the common hypothesis. Wherefore is it said, that Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf, &c. when we hear nothing in the future history of his tribe peculiarly to justify the comparison? Moses, indeed, says, that the Beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Benjamin, (Deut. xxxiii.) and this does not exactly correspond with the notion given of him by his Father, if the words be understood as I believe they generally are. Mr. Hails acknowledges, that "there is something wonderfully striking in the manner in which Sir W. D. has arranged the subject." Now I contend that this could not have happened, if there had been no foundation in truth for my system to be raised upon. I have been obliged to write this letter in much more haste than I could have wished to have done; but I hope I have obviated the principal objections urged against my Dissertation by Mr. Hails. April 27th, 1813. W. DRUMMOND. OBSERVATIONS ON PERSIUS. TO THE EDITOR OF THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL. SINCE the publication of my Translation of Persius, a few additional remarks have occurred illustrative of my author, which, if you approve of their insertion, I shall beg leave to submit to the public eye through the medium of your Journal. Acle, Norfolk, July 14, 1813. FRANCIS HOWES. Sat. I. 59. Koenig has, Nec manus auriculas imitata est mobilis altas, instead of the common reading albas, but without assigning any authority, or even noticing the difference. Ib. 76. I now agree with those commentators who represent these three verses (est nunc Briseis, &c.) as the monitus put into the mouth of those Patres lippi mentioned in v. 79. Est nunc quem -sunt quos-are forms of exultation in the supposed prospect of an improvement in the public taste. In like manner Pliny (Lib. i. Ep. 17.) writing in commendation of one Capito, who had lately erected in the Forum a statue of his friend Syllanus, breaks forth thus: Est adhuc curæ hominibus fides et officium. Sunt qui defunctorum quoque amicos agant. Ib. 95. Sic costam longo subduximus Appennino. It is impossible thoroughly to ascertain the relation of these words, ignorant as we are of the context in which they originally occurred. One thing, however, which has escaped the notice of all the commentators is, that the author of this sonorous line has been guilty of a vile pun. I have before observed, that as a ridge of hills is often termed Dorsum, so a part of such a ridge is here called costa. But this is not all. Subduco is a term applied to carving, and resem bles our English expression-to take off the wing or leg of a fowl. Thus Juvenal uses the word, (Sat. xi. 142.) mentioning his slave's want of skill in the art of carving: Nec frustum capreæ subducere, nec latus Afræ Hitherto subduximus has been erroneously taken as equivalent to clam occupavimus, by which justice has not been done to the sense (or rather nonsense) of the verse. Sat. II. 32-84. Concerning this superstitious custom of using spittle as a preservative against the fascination of envious eyes, see Elian, V. H. Lib. I. c. xv. Plin. N. H. Lib. XXVIII. c. ii—iv. Petron. p. 179. ed. Wechel. and their respective commentators. Ib. 63. Et bona Dîs ex hac scelerata ducere pulpa. Markland ad Stat. Silv. III. i. 82. proposes to read dicere in the sense of to consecrate, as in Virg. Æn. vi. 138. Junoni infernæ dictus sacer. Vulgo (says he) ducere, nullo apto sensu. But ducere ex aliqua re is a perfectly classical expression, denoting, to judge of, or estimate by, any standard. Eschines against Ctesiphon, has a sentence involving a construction precisely similar: Dewgov Tòv ̓Αλέξανδρον οὐκ ἐκ τῆς ̓Αλεξάνδρου φύσεως, ἀλλ ̓ ἐκ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἀναν δρίας. Sat. III. 64. Venienti occurrite morbo; Et quid opus Cratero, &c. A similar use of the copulative occurs in the oration of Æschines, above quoted » Ταῦτα συμφωνοῦντα ἀλλήλοις ἐπιδείξας και τάβαινε, ΚΑΙ τί δεῖ σὲ Δημοσθένην παρακαλεῖν. Ib. 67. Soon after the publication of my Persius, I received, in a letter from a friend, the following judicious remarks upon this passage: "I agree with you entirely in preferring the common reading unde. The whole appears to me to be a metaphor borrowed from the chariot race. Indeed the expression-Ordo quis datus, at the beginning, fixes it. The first arrangement for the race was dare ordinem-to appoint the places for the different chariots by lot. In the 352nd verse of the 23rd Iliad we have a full account of it; and in the Electra of Sophocles, oi Terayμévos βραβεῖς κλήροις ἔπηλαν καὶ κατέστησαν δίφρους. The whole passage in this view appears to be a clear and consistent metaphor, and it confirms the sense you have given it. Probably, indeed, you saw it in the same light, though your note does not notice the Ordo, &c." Sat. IV. 25. Quæsieris,-should one inquire,-not addressed to any one in particular, but spoken indefinitely. So Hor. Lib. II. Sat. vi. 39. Dixeris, experiar: Should one say, I will try what can be done where Gesner, with his usual good sense and perspicuity remarks: Dixeris, impersonaliter et negligenter; debebat enim, si dicam vel dixerim. Ib. Nostin' Vectidî prædia? In my note on these words I have remarked, that this was a common way of beginning any narrative where it is requisite to assume in the hearer a general acquaintance with the subject about to be spoken of, as in Terence's Phorm. Act i. Sc. 2. Senis nostri, Dave, fratrem majorem Chremem nostin'? To this instance I might have added, Soph. Trachin. 418. where the messenger says to Lichas, T αἰχμάλωτον ἣν ἔπεμψας ἐς δόμους Κατοῖσθα δὴ ποῦ; which words, Brunck in his two first editions rightly observes, are not meant to ask particulars respecting Iole, but merely as an adjustment of the subject preparatory to further inquiries. To this, Lichas answers, φημί· πρὸς τί δ ̓ ἱστορεῖς ; I certainly know whom you mean : but for what purpose do you ask me? what have you to say about her? The messenger goes on to say: oux où cù TaÚTNY, Av úπ3 ἀγνοίας ὁρᾶς, Ιόλην ἔφασκες Εὐρύτου σπορὰν ἄγειν; Did you not then affirm before the inquiring crowd, that this young woman, of whom you now pretend ignorance, was Iole, daughter of king Eurytus? All this is very clear and consistent. Lichas certainly knew whom the messenger meant by the female captive just brought to the house,' because a conversation had just before passed between himself and Deianara concerning her: but this knowledge might well consist with perfect ignorance of her birth, rank, &c. Brunck, however, for want of attending to the popular mode of speech above-mentioned, in his third edition mangles the text so as to make Lichas profess himself absolutely ignorant of what person the messenger was speaking: xatoïola dñt'; A1. ου φημι. Yet in the same play and respecting the same person, Hercules puts a similar question to his son, v. 1221. where the answer clearly shows its limitation. ΗΡ. τὴν Εὐρυτείαν οἶσθα δῆτα παρθένον ; ΥΛ. Ιόλην ΕΛΕΞΑΣ, ὥστ ̓ ἐπεικάζειν ἐμέ. Sat. V. 25. Pictæ tectoria linguæ. The word tectoria here probably alludes to the paint or enamel laid upon the face. See Juv. Sat. vi. 467. Ib. 119. Digitum exere, peccas. The old scholiast, mistaking the allusion, says: Digito sublato ostende victum te esse a vitiis. Tractum a gladiatoribus qui victi ostensione digiti veniam a populo postulabant. This mistake (as the passages quoted from Epictetus by Casaubon and myself sufficiently prove it to be) has deceived Savaro in his additional notes to Gesner's Thesaurus on the phrase-Tollere digitum. See Barker, on Cic. de Am. c. xxvi. Ib. 156. Oberres. Oberro is to wander to and fro, as here, from avarice to luxury and back again, like obambulo and other similar compounds. I merely mention this, because my translation is rather lax in this passage, and might mislead a Tyrunculus. Sat. VI. 51. Again I beg leave to make an extract from the same learned friend's letter of which I before availed myself: "Here" says he, "I think your version of Non adeo quite correct; and the same of your sense of Exossatus ager. But in what follows I would beg to suggest an alteration in the punctuation. I would place a full stop after Juxta est, which words I consider as the answer of Persius to his heir's refusal to accept his proffered inheritance. The dialogue then will stand thus: Persius. An prohibes? dic clare. Hares. Non adeo (inquis). Exossatus ager. Persius says to his heir, "Have you any objection to be my heir? tell me plainly." The heir answers, "I will have nothing to do with your estate upon these conditions: it will not be worth having." "Well (replies Persius), it is all one to me; be it as you please; if I shall have no relations left to inherit my property, I can yet find somebody who will thank me for it." This, which I believe every one will agree with me in approv ing, as almost to a certainty the right construction, had (if the reader will take my word for it) occurred to my own mind some time before I thought of printing a translation of Persius. But I was fearful then of embracing it, from never having met with this phrase, Juxta est, in the sense here required-It is all one; l'un revient à l'autre. Yet none, I think, who have seen the common phrase Perinde est, and have observed the near analogy between the words Juxta and Perinde in other combinations (such as, juxta atque, perinde atque; eorum ego vitam mortemque juxta æstumo, &c.) can entertain much doubt as to the legitimacy of the expression. And, if allowable, it certainly leaves not the shadow of a difficulty in this hitherto much-disputed passage. As, therefore, in commenting on this Crux criticorum, I before ventured to accost my author in the words of Edipus, 5 Távt ἄγαν αἰνικτὰ κἀσαφή λέγεις, so now with my ingenious friend's assistance I may be permitted to say with the Theban king, but in a tone rather of triumph than despair, Ιοὺ, ἰου· τὰ πάντ' ἂν ἐξίκοι σαφῇ. With respect to the expression Exossatus ager, besides the passage of Lucretius (iv. 1265), Juvenal may be cited as using the same allusion in Sat. viii. 90. where talking of the despoiled condition of the Roman provinces, he says: Ossa vides regum vacuis exsucta medullis. Ib. 57. Quartus pater, father in the fourth degree, or greatgreat-grandfather; in French, Trisayeul. So Mandane says to Cyrus in Xenophon, ó σòs #ρтos Tárne, meaning the youth's immediate father, as distinguished from Astyages his grandfather. On the same principle is to be interpreted Soph. Ed. Tyr. 1062. Θάρσει· σὺ μὲν γὰρ, οὐδ ̓ ἂν ἐκ τρίτης ἐγὼ i. e. not even, if it should turn out that my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, were all in a state of slavery, will that circumstance reflect any disgrace upon you. VOL. VIII. CI. JI. NO. XV. M |