E. H. BARKER'S REPLY TO BOINTOX [See Class. Journ. L. 337. LI. 147.] EACH party having exchanged the compliments of the season, business may now be conducted between them without further ceremony. BOINTOX's answer does not require any lengthened reply; but it would be ungracious to give none, and yet in my Bibliotheca, oxín te dían te, I do not find sufficient resources to give one at once full and satisfactory. 1. Thybris. "Tiberis, et per sync. Tibris, is et idis, m. Tevere, Tißepis, Fluvius Hetruriæ, (olim Albula dictus, postea etiam Tybris, ut Plin. 3, 5. docet, ubi et ejus cursum describit,) qui ex Apennino ortus, aliisque auctus fluminibus Romam interluit, et in mare Tyrrhenum duobus ostiis influit. Nomen habuit a Tiberino rege, vel a Tybri rege Tuscorum, ut est ap. Virg. Æn. 8, 330. vel άπò τs ßgews, quia Romæ imaginem præbebat illius fossæ, quam intra moenia sua Syracusani olim duxerunt, Atheniensium devictorum opera usi per vim et injuriam, ut Serv. ad Virg. l. c. et ad 3, 500. fabulatur. Quam ob rem nonnullis Thybris, aut Tybris scribere placuit. Sed consuetudo Latina Græcas litteras abjicit, ut Lapidibus productis Manut. et Cellar. ostendunt. Et fortasse nomen regis Etrusci per thy scriptum fuit; at nomen fluvii per Lat. litteras Latini scripserunt." Forcellin. Lex. totius Latin. "Primum ab aquarum colore Albula dictus est, deinde Thybris, (unde Gr. Oúußpis,) denique Tiberis appellatus, a rege Tusco ejus nominis, juxta eum in bello occiso. Virg. Æn. 8, 330. asperque immani corpore Thybris; A quo post Itali fluvium cognomine Thybrin Diximus: amisit verum vetus Albula nomen. Nugatur Serv. ad h. 1. cum Græculis, dictum άπò Tйs üßpews, ab injuria, propter regem Tuscorum, latrocinari circa ejus fluminis ripas, ac vastare omnia solitum. Quia tamen aliquid subesse doctrinæ solet, relinquatur, sed emendatior alter locus Servii ad Æn. 3, 500. Si quando Thybrim, vicinaque Thybridis arva Intrabo:- Ut autem,' inquit, Thybris dicatur, hæc ratio est: quodam tempore Syracusani, victores Atheniensium, ceperunt Syracusis ingentem hostium multitudinem; et eam cæsis montibus fecerunt addere niunimenta civitati. Tunc auctis muris, etiam fossa intrinsecus facta est: quæ flumine admisso repleta munitiorem redderet civitatem. Hanc igitur fossam per hostium pœnam et injuriam VOL. XXVII. Cl. JI. NO. LIII. 1 factam, Thybrim vocaverunt ảnò ñs üßpews. Postea profecti Siculi ad Italiam, eam tenuerunt partem, ubi nunc Roma est, usque ad Rutulos et Ardeam: unde est, Fines super usque Sicanos. Et Albulam fluvium, ad imaginem fossæ Syracusanæ Thybrin vocarunt, quasi ßpiv. Rursus autem a Tiberino Albanorum rege in eo submerso pro Thybri dictus est Tiberis, Ovid. Fast. 2, 389. Hoc videtur posse constitui, Thybris, Oúμßgis, antiquum nomen Gr. fuisse: huic successisse recentius Tiberis; quomodo in optimis quibusque monumentis et libris historicis reperitur, nisi ubi dedita opera, ut ap. Virg. ll. cc. et alios poëtas, antiquum nomen repetitur. Ac prioris generis exemplis non est opus: videamus poëtica." Gesner. Thes. L. L. He then produces the following authorities, with the orthography Thybris, Ovid. Fast. 1, 242. 5, 635. 637. 641. Virg. Æn. 5, 83. 5, 797. 7, 242. 8, 540. Sil. 8, 369. 16, 680. Horat. Carm. 1, 2, 13. Claud. Cons. Prob. et Olyb. 226. 2. "Twisting Monostrophics into Choruses and Dochmiacs." BOINTOX asks not me in particular, but the readers of the Classical Journal generally, what Eubulus means by those words. This is knowlege, to which I cannot attain. However, as I do happen to know that the permutation of letters and the transposition of words were the simple means, by which Professor Porson was enabled satisfactorily to restore the corrupted metre and the violated sense of many passages in the ancient poets, I submit to BOINTON the propriety of following this safe rule of criticism on the present occasion, by reading the sentence thus: "Twisting choruses into monostrophics and dochmiacs." 3. Metrical lines in Prose Writers. "I will not say with Plato, the soule is an harmony, but harmonicall, and hath its nearest sympathie unto musicke. Thus some, whose temper of body agrees, and humours the constitution of their soules, are borne Poets, though indeed all are naturally inclined unto rhythme. This made Tacitus in the very first line of his story, fall upon a verse, Urbem Romam in principio reges habuere: and Cicero the worst of Poets, but declayming for a Poet, falls in the very first sentence upon a perfect hexameter verse, pro Archia Poeta, In qua me non inficior mediocriter esse." It Sir Th. Browne's Religio Medici, p. 156. Ed. 1645. 12mo. may be observed that the sin is wrongly laid at Cicero's door; for that oration cannot be considered as the composition of Ci cero. Of his poetical writings we shall soon speak. Aristænetus 1, 1. Μικροῦ με παρῆλθεν εἰπεῖν, ὡς κυδωνιῶντες οἱ μαστοὶ τὴν ἀμπεχόνην ἐξωθοῦσι βιαίως. ΒΟΙΩΤΟΣ will be much interested in perusing the following notes, contained in the elegant edition of Aristænetus, for which the learned world is indebted to the zeal, the diligence, and the erudition of the accomplished critic, Professor Boissonade :-" Ut hoc obiter observem, oi paσтol Tv apaπεχόνην ἐξωθοῦσι βιαίως, e Poeta sumtum videtur. Namque, si our scribas, hexameter exibit; qualia tamen prosaicis excidunt, qualiaque in ipsis sacris Literis occurrere ostendit multis Rev. J. J. Einen ad Scripta et de Erroribus J. Clerici." Dorv. Vanno p. 600. "Ex hoc Dorvilli loco frustra inferebat Abreschius virum doctissimum conjecisse lour reddendum Aristæneto. Ipsa hæc observatio lectionem editam firmat. Nam lovo potius quam lor scripserit Auctor, ut hexametrum corrumperet. Obiter de versibus prosæ orationi intextis a scriptoribus, insciis sæpius, nonnunquam pravo numerorum sensu deceptis, lectorem monebo adeat Marklandum ad Suppl. 901. p. 184.; Bosium, Staveren. Heusinger. ad Nepotis prooemium; Dorv. ad Char. 620.; V. D., qui se Cæcil. Metellum nuncupure amat, in Classica Ephemeride T. 15. p. 181., 16. p. 334., 17. p. 349., 19. p. 328., 20. p. 345., 21. p. 278., 22. p. 171., 23. p. 43. 296. Versus in prosaicis Italis scriptoribus deprehendit Tasson. ad Petrarchæ initium. Et in nostratibus non desunt exempla. Marmontelius, qui in Narratione Morali, cui index est, Amicitiæ Schola, Laissez donc la simple amitié Doucement amuser le loisir de son âme, omnino est reprehensione dignus; nam nimia in his est cacozelia, cum ipsa adverbii inversio ipsum de metro admoneret. Vide et Vaugelasii Animadvv. de Lingua Gallica p. 117., collato Menagio Obs. 190. Menagiana 1, 40. 77. 144. 3, 382. ubi similia vitia in Molierii et Ablancurtii oratione notantur; Carpentarium de Excell. Ling. Gall. 684. Clericum Bibl. Univ. 5, 258. Daunovium ad Boilavii Longin. 8. Neckera Miscell. 2, 15. Les vers gâtent l'harmonie de la prose; mais un hémistiche réussit quelquefois, et tombe agréablement pour l'oreille." Boissonade. 4. Alliteration in prose and in verse. Cic. de Senect. 11. Ita sensim sine sensu ætas senescit. "Ilagóμolov etiam vocalium allusione insigne, in quo decorum servat in Catonis persona; nam seculum illud figuris hujusmodi delectabatur: quale est Ennii illud, quale Ô Tite, tute Tati, tibi tanta, tyranne, tulisti, et ejusdem ex Phoenice, Stultus est, qui cupita cupidus cupienter cupit, et Plauti in Menaechmis, Non potui paucis plura plane proloqui. Simile ex Eur. Med. adfert Victor. 36, 20. Turnebus Advers. 7, 19. e Cic." C. Langius. "Tautoλoyía, joci genus, et lepor quidam in repetitione litterarum: sic Ennius, Quidquam quisquam cuiquam, quod conveniat, neget. Item alibi, Nam cujus rationis ratio non extet, ei rationi ratio non est fidem habere. Et Cato senex ap. Carisium c. 2. Suapte natio sua separata seorsum. Thus Lucretius 1, 203. vivendo vitalia vincere secla, 258. pecudes pingues per pabula læta, 272. venti vis verberat, 342. 2, 653. 4, 127. 166. 859. 5, 790. 6, 507. multa modis multis, 1, 5. 30. possunt nec porro penitus penetrata, 727. magna modis multis miranda, 814. multimodis communia multis Multarum rerum in rebus primordia multa, 1023. multimodis, multis, mutata, 2, 115. multa minuta modis multis, 129. retroque repulsa reverti, 559. 5, 1002. placidi pellacia ponti, 2, 582. memori mandatum mente, 628. tympana tenta tonant, 4, 658. Multa rotunda modis multangula quædam, 1065, volgivagaque vagus venere, 1134. in voltuque videt vestigia, 5, 855. vides vesci vitalibus auris, 962. vel violenta viri vis, 991. Viva videns sepeliri viscera busto, 1063. duros durantia dentes, 6, 112. volantes Verberibus venti versant, 283. luminibus lustrans loca, 942. speluncis saxa superne, 1019. sponte sua sursum, 1246. lacrymis lassi luctuque, 1265. per populi passim loca promta. Virg. tales casus Cassandra canebat, Neu patriæ validas in viscera vertite vires, G. 1, 389. Et sola in sicca secum spatiatur arena. Soph. ΟΕd. Τ. 1273. τέκν' ἐκ τέκνων τέκοι, 1480. Ως τὰς ἀδελφὰς τάσδε τὰς ἐμὰς χέρας, Esch, Pr. 733. Cicero, Στρέψασα σαυτὴν στεῖχ ̓ ἀνηρότους γύας. O fortunatam natam me consule Romam.' Juvenal seems to have ridiculed the line for the very alliteration, which Cicero, agreeably to the taste of the age, affected. But ever after monarchy had been re-established in Rome, it was fashionable and courtly to abuse the name of Cicero,-a name dear alike to liberty and to virtue. To question his oratorical talents would have been a vain attempt. The parasites of those times, therefore, directed their wit against his poetical effusions, because they are more open to attack. I am persuaded, See Class. Journal, Vol. IX. p. 588. however, that, if the verses of Cicero be compared with the verses of his predecessors or contemporaries and coevals, they will not be found deficient in merit. But, if they are measured by the standard of Virgil, they must sink into insignificance: let it not, however, be forgotten that not one of the other predecessors can enter the lists with Virgil. QUISQUIS iter tendas, curvi prope littoris oram, Siste pedem, atque ævi recolas monumenta prioris: Salve! sancta domus, magnæ penetrale Parentis, |