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The doctor seems to have been in great distress for a proof ex hagiographis.' Surely he might have made a

better choice.

In the question before us the learned are divided: on your side are Origen, Tertullian, Jerom, Petavius, Prideaux, &c. on my side, Jos. Scaliger, Pearson, Van Dale, Le Clerc, Samuel and James Basnage, &c.

The case I take to have been this: the Sadducees admitted the prophets, as sent from God to instruct and reform the nation, and to enforce the law; but they held that all articles of faith and fundamentals of religion were contained in the law, and were to be sought no where else. So that in reality they paid more regard to the prophets than did the Pharisees, who equalled their silly traditions to the sacred books. In preferring Moses to the prophets, the Jews seem to have been all pretty well agreed, and they made his superiority to consist in several things. Thus you see, sir, that I am not willing to give up the point without a struggle. I have been pleading my cause again, partly for my own sake, lest I should seem to you to take up opinions at mere hazard, and lay them down as easily; and partly for your sake, that, if you should do me the favour to reply, you may not have a tame and passive antagonist to deal with, in conquering whom there would be no credit. If I fall, I could wish to fall like Hector in Homer, by an honourable hand, and after an honourable resistance:

Μὴ μὴν ἀσπουδεί γε καὶ ἀκλειῶς ἀπολοίμην,
̓Αλλὰ μέγα ρέξας τι καὶ ἐσσομένοισι πυθέσθαι.

Il. x. 304.

which, of all the fantastical titles that I can recollect, is one of the prettiest. It hath a double meaning, of which Schabtai was not aware; for most of his rabbinical brethren talk very much like men in their sleep.

Vill. p. 483.

III.

AN ORACLE IN HERODOTUS.

Αλλ' ὅταν Αρτέμιδος χρυσάορον ἱερὸν ἀκτὴν
Νηυσὶ γεφυρώσωσι, καὶ εἶναλίην Κυνόσουραν,
Ἐλπίδι μαινομένη λιπαράς πέρσαντες Αθήνας,
Δῖα δίκη σβέσσει κρατερὸν κορὸν, ὕβριος υἱὸν,
Δεινὸν μαιμώοντα, δοκεῦντ ̓ ἀνὰ πάντα πυθέσθαι.
Χαλκὸς γὰρ χαλκῷ συμμίζεται, αἵματι δ' "Αρης
Πόντον φοινίξει· τότ ̓ ἐλεύθερον Ἑλλάδος ἦμαρ
Ευρύοπα Κρονίδης ἐπάγει, καὶ πότνια Νίκη.

ανα

'Auricomæ densis ubi litora sacra Dianæ
Navibus insternent, et litoream Cynosuram,
Spe stolida fortes quod Athenas dilacerarunt,
Compescet juvenem meritissima pœna superbum,
Instinctum furiis, sibi cedere cuncta putantem.
Nam miscebitur æs æri, Mars sanguine pontum
Inficiet: Graiis tunc libera tempora reddet
Saturno genitus, simul et Victoria pollens.'

This oracle was supposed to have been delivered by Bacis, before the battle of Salamis; and to have been fulfilled in the signal victory which the Greeks then obtained over Xerxes.

On this oracle I received the following observation :

• Give me leave to propose to you this question, Whether in your Remarks, vol. i. p. 264. κρατερὸν κόρον ὕβριος viov, be rightly translated juvenem superbum? I apprehend that Gronovius has mistaken the word nópos, which signifies here, not juvenem, but fastum, or insolentiam. My reason for this opinion is, that I find Pindar uses the word in this sense, Olymp. xiii. 12. where also he gives insolence the same parentage which the oracle attributes to it, viz. pride, Υβριν. His words are these : speaking of the social virtues that dwell at Corinth, he says,

Ἐθέλοντι δ ̓ ἀλεξεῖν ὕβριν κόρου
Ματέρα θρασύμυθον.

~

where it seems necessary that xópos must signify insolence, or some such concomitant of pride. In Olymp. A. 89. κόμῳ δ ̓ ἕλεν.—The scholiast says, κόρῳ, τη ὕβρει καὶ ἀλαζο via the words that follow indeed show that it was a metaphorical sense in which the word is here used, in the opinion of the scholiast: but this is not the case in Olymp. xiii. nor is it the case in Olymp. ii. αἶνον ἔβα κόρος. which is thus explained: τὸν ἐπαινὸν, τὴν δόξαν τοῦ Θήρωνος, κόρος δὲ ὕβρις. The scholiast here plainly takes xogos to signify pride, or some of its malignant attendants. And as from these passages it seems that the word may have the meaning of insolence, so I fancy you will not think it an inconvenient sense in the oracle cited. The insolence of the Persians, confident in their immense superiority, in the number of their troops, and spreading desolation in their march, is nobly painted in the verses following that which you have quoted, and this insolence seems a very fit object of divine punishment. I need not add, that if this interpretation be the true one, the expression is not in the Oriental manner, but entirely Grecian.

THE sameness of expression in Pindar and in the Oracle is very well observed by this gentleman; and these two writers were contemporaries: but the passage in Pindar, Olymp. xiii. is obscure, and has perplexed his commen

tators.

'Abundance begets insolence:' so says Theognis, and so says all the world;

Τίκτει τοι κόρος ὕβριν, ὅταν κακῷ ὄλβος ἕποιτο.

But Pindar, if the passage be not corrupted, inverts the proverb, and says, "Υβρις τίκτει κόρον.

Ἐθέλοντι δ ̓ ἀλεξεῖν ὕβριν κόρου

Ματέρα θρασύμυθον.

Volunt autem arcere injuriam, satietatis
Matrem audaciloquam.'

The scholiast censures the bold poet for the impropriety of
the expression; for putting the cart before the horse. H.
Stephen, for xogou conjectures ópou. The Oxford editor
κόρου φθόρου.
retains xópou, and admits the hypallage, and construes it back-
κόρου,

wards. If it be supposed that nógos here is insolence, it is hard to conceive how beis can produce it, because there is too much identity between κόρος and ὕβρις.

Pindar often uses the word xogos, commonly in the sense of nimia satietas and saturitas, and of dislike and loathing, and sometimes for insolence, or envy.

Pyth. i. 160.

̓Απὸ γὰρ κόρος αμβλύνει
Αἰανὴς ταχείας απάδις.

6 nimia satietas, fastidium.

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κόρος in this place may mean envy, excited by the glory and reputation of Theron, which was so great that his enemies could not bear it: and the word retains some idea of overabundance.

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κόρῳ, that is, πλησμονή, as the scholiast rightly interprets it. Too much affluence and prosperity ruined him.

Isthm. iii. 4.

κατέχει Φρασὶν αἰανὴ κόρον.

i. e. 'petulantiam ex satietate provenientem.'

But, to come to the Oracle, If we should suppose that Hópos there means fulness, or insolence, or pride, yet the author made a person of it; and by that person he meant Xerxes, as it appears, I think, from the fifth verse—xógov—

Δεινὸν μαιμώοντα, δοκεῦντ ̓ ἀνὰ πάντα πυθέσθαι.

which I translate,

Vehementer furentem, putantem se omnia rescivisse.'

imagining that he had good intelligence, and knew all that passed amongst the Greeks.' He alludes to the stratagem of Themistocles, who sent word to Xerxes that the Greeks were in confusion, and preparing to run away; and advised him to seize the opportunity of inclosing and cutting them to pieces. By this trick the Athenian general, who had in him as much of the fox as of the lion, brought on a battle, which was what he wanted.

Who can tell whether the priest who composed this oracle might not use on purpose the ambiguous word xópos, which may mean either a young man, or fulness and κόρος, satiety, and so denote Xerxes, a young prince swelled with pride, and glutted with ravage? Ambiguity suits an oracle, and a little jargon is not amiss.

The translator of Herodotus rendered xócov, juvenem, and Gale and Gronovius let it stand, and adopted it: and if it means a person, the phrase "pios vidv, may be accounted oriental and scriptural.

IV.

IN p. 244 mention is made of a dream related by Grotius. The story is to be found in the life of Jacobus Guionius. Cum Philibertus De La Mare, senator Divionensis, vitam Jacobi Guionii describeret, non indignum sua narra.

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