F VIRGIL AENEID VIII. 102-109. ORTE die sollemnem illo rex Arcas honorem Amphitryoniadae magno divisque ferebat Una omnes iuvenum primi, pauperque senatus Allabi nemus et tacitis incumbere remis, Terrentur visu subito Evander and his son Pallas, together with the chief nobles and senators, are sacrificing to Hercules in a grove before their city Pallanteum (on the site of future Rome), when they suddenly descry two strange vessels coming up the Tiber, atque inter opacum, Allabi nemus et tacitis incumbere remis. In this passage the meaning of the words "tacitis remis" has not as yet, I think, been satisfactorily explained. A variant "tacitos" is found in many MSS., but there is little doubt that it is merely an attempt to simplify the construction, the very complexity of which (i.e. incumbere being said of the ships when it really refers to the rowers) is, as Conington well remarks, characteristic of Virgil. "Tacitis," moreover, has the authority of Servius, whose explanation, however, is very questionable :-" "tacitis incumbere remis' pro ipsi taciti, i.e. sine celeusmate." But it may well be doubted whether the ancient rowers could have dispensed with the services of the celeustes, if this be what Servius means by "sine celeusmate;" while, if he means that the crews abstained from all the shouting, singing, &c., by which the rowers were accustomed to encourage' one another and lighten their toil, then his interpretation appears to contradict line 90 supra, where, describing these same ships on their voyage, Virgil says Ergo iter inceptum celerant rumore secundo,* which is rightly explained of the shouting of the crews (Vid. Conington ad loc.) Conington, who reads "tacitis" in his text, explains: "whichever reading (tacitis or tacitos) we adopt, the silence seems to mean not what Servius supposes, but the absence of any intimation from the Trojans who they were, which would itself alarm the Arcadians; probably, too, we are meant to think also of the calm of the river. Strictly, of course, the oars cannot have been noiseless." 66 * I have quoted line 90 with the reading rumore secundo," as it seems difficult to believe that the variant RUMONE,' though found in the Medicean a prima manu, and mentioned with approval by Servius, can be anything but an early copyist's mistake for 'RUMORE.' Dr. Henry, the veteran Virgilian critic and commentator, who has himself examined the Medicean MS., has courteously supplied me with the following interesting extract from his memoranda: "According to my memoranda the reading of the Medicean MS. is RUMONE with a line drawn through the N, and R superscribed. Foggini testifies to the same effect, and adds, in a note at the end of volume: linea expungens N est recentioris manus, non secus ac superimposita R.' Rumore is also the reading both of the Roman and Palatine MSS., the latter MS. being of no less authority than the Medicean, also of eight MSS. of the second class, consulted by me with special reference to this word. I have not met the reading Rumone except in the Medicean alone, in which MS. the error has been corrected a pr. m." Servius (and, I believe, Servius alone) says that Rumo was an old name for the Tiber; but Virgil himself (vIII. 332) mentions the old name, i.e. Albula, "immani corpore Thybris A quo post Itali fluvium cognomine Thybrim Diximus; amisit verum vetus Albula nomen. It appears incredible that Virgil, recognising Albula as the old name of the Tiber, should, without any particular reason or explanation, use on one occasion, and one only, the strange name Rumo for the river. It may be added, in confirmation of rumore, that the phrases rumore secundo and rumore adverso are by no means uncommon in the Latin writers. Horace has rumore secundo (Epist. 1, 10, 9); also Tacitus Ann. 3, 29, perhaps one of the many reminiscences of Virgil to be found in that writer. This (rather hesitating) explanation will scarcely be deemed satisfactory. What alarms the Arcadians is the sudden appearance of the strange craft, "terrentur visu subito;" moreover, the Trojans have not had time and are as yet too distant to be able to convey to the Arcadians any intimation as to who they are. A different interpretation of "tacitis remis" suggests itself from the following passage of Martial (IV. 64, 18-24), which seems to have been overlooked by the Commentators. Illinc Flaminiae Salariaeque Gestator patel esscdo tacente, Ne blando rota sit molesta somno, Cum sit tam prope Mulvius sacrumque can Martial is describing the villa suburbana of Julius Martialis on the Janiculum, and remarks that from the top of that hill one can see the people riding in their carriages along the Flaminian and Salarian roads, and watch the boats flitting up and down the Tiber, while the distance prevents one's repose being disturbed either by the rumbling of wheels or the shouts of the boatswains and rowers. Now, I submit that the "tacitis remis" of the Virgilian passage is to be explained by the "essedo tacente" of Martial. Evander and his followers see the ships approaching, but, owing to the distance, the plash of the oars is unheard, and thus the crew may be said to lean on noiseless oars. We might even extend the meaning of "tacitis remis," and say that it implies not only the plash of the oars, but also the celeusma and all the nauticus clamor was unheard, owing to the distance by which the Trojans were as yet separated from the Arcadians. That they were at some considerable distance is clear from the lines immediately succeeding (V. 111), raptoque volat telo obvius ipse (Pallas) Et procul a tumulo. The following might be suggested as the origin of Rumo-an ancient name for the Tiber. Servius lived about four hundred years after the publication of the Aeneid; in that long period many corruptions, no doubt, crept into the manuscripts. Among these was the blunder of RUMONE for RUMORE. Some Virgilian critic of philological tendencies (perhaps Servius himself), finding this curious word RUMONE in his copy, and not knowing what to make of it, conceived the idea of connecting it etymologically with ROMA, ROMULUS, RUMINALIS (for these words vide Seeley, Introduction to Livy, p. 32); and thus, associating the word with the most ancient history of the city, conjectured that RUMO was the river of ROMA, or ROMA the city on the RUMO. Subsequently the conjecture was received as an historical fact. Whether there was or was not an ancient name RUMO for the Tiber must, of course, remain a matter of doubt, but it is pretty clear that Virgil thought the ancient name was Albula. T. J. B. BRADY. PROFESSOR CAMPBELL'S SOPHOCLES, VOL. I. SOME OME words of preface seem to be needed before I proceed to the task of following Professor Campbell through a few of the darker passages of these three plays. Our editor professes Conservatism' in criticism, stricter conservatism than that of any editor since Hermann. This profession is rather perplexing, because Hermann was an ultra-Liberal. But what is Conservatism in criticism? He who first called himself a Conservative in criticism used the metaphor, no doubt, in a careless way and without much consideration of what he was saying. The phrase has been taken up by later editors and put forward as one of favorable import and good signification. Most English editors seem to regard Conservatism as a thing to be proud of, and the profession of it as something which is likely to conciliate the reader. I will try to show that the metaphor is a wrong one, that 'Conservatism in criticism' is a thing to be disavowed, and that the phrase is a form of words which careful writers would do well to avoid. One is a Conservative in politics either from some principle which one thinks is right, or from private interest, or from prejudice and unreasoning obstinacy in clinging to the old state of things whether better or worse than the new. The last class would be represented in criticism by those who say, not without applause, that "they prefer the old mumpsimus to any one's new sumpsimus." Of this confessedly stupid and uncritical class of Conservatives, I need only say that I think no Conserva |