more substantial evidence of its ability to make all of us wise; nay, even at the very best, a knowledge of the frail state of human existence, when not protected by divine Providence, with the gloomy view of death at last, is but a knowledge of how soon men will be turned out of their earthly paradise into an unknown dreary wilderness of despair through the darkness of the way before them, in case they depart from the right senses as well as words of that divine guide to their present paths, and better hopes in future. In fine, it may be truly said of the inquiries of all the above writers concerning the Nachasch, what was actually said of M. Huet, when he published his Demonstratio Evangelica, that it cleared up and demonstrated nothing except the very great extent of his own reading. Norwich, Jan. 12. S. CLASSICAL CRITICISM. NO. 11. SIR, TO THE EDITOR OF THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL. THE First Epistle of Horace opens with these lines— Primâ dicte mihi, summâ dicende camœnâ, In this passage I should object to the usual translation of two phrases. Extremá arená is rendered, in English, the farther end of the arena. It rather appears, that either in a circus, or amphitheatre, where the audience are ranged around the arena, the proper place from which to address effectively that audience is not towards the end of the arena, but some spot nearer to the centre of the open space. The idea of addressing the people from the farther end of that space, I conclude, is taken from our own theatres, and not from any ancient circus or amphitheatre. I would propose the following translation: Vejanius, armis Herculis ad postem fixis, latet abditus agro, "Vejanius, having deposited his arms at the temple of Hercules, remains concealed at his country residence, that he may not repeatedly request his dismissal at a last performance:" that is, Vejanius, advanced in life, remains at a distance from Rome, lest the people should press him to the circus, under a promise, which they never fail to break, of its being his last performance. In our northern climate it is not easy to 1804. Αἴνω ἀειξομένης. HAMUM LATIN POEM. Ἐχύθη δὲ οἱ ἔνδοθι θύμος AMUM squamigeris incurves, retia tendas; Sternere visne feram? canibus sectare per agros, Advolitans pretium grande laboris erit. Illa, maritales quæ fastidivit habenas, Fit docilis, collum subdit et ipsa jugo; Vel si etiam tumidâ prostratum rejicit irâ, Duraque ferratas vult operire fores; "Sunt verba et voces, quibus hunc lenire" furorem, Suavia dicta minas, ut laurus fulmina, sistent; -Aggreditur quoties tua lux, tua gloria vitæ, Cùm nimis exultans quassat utrumque latus : Et summâ ad cœlum tollere laude decet: Nymphæ, quicquid agit, quoquò vestigia movit," H. H. JOY. CONJECTURES RESPECTING THE CHERUBIM. CHERUB in Hebrew signifies strength, or force, and metaphorically a Bull, the symbol of power. The union of the four animals may signify the four elements, as the four heads or faces of the Indian Brahina. Or, they may be typical of the creative power, the Bull; the supporting, the Eagle; and the destructive, the Lion; combined in the Deity, whose image is Man. Or, they may be the three kingdoms of animal nature, the carnivorous, the graminivorous, and Birds symbolical of creative power. Whatever may be the real meaning of it, the hieroglyphic is derived from Egypt. I know not whether it be generally observed, that the symbolical figures commonly united with the four evangelists in old missals and carv ings, are the four figures constituting the Cherubim taken separately. A. B. LETTER OF ISAAC CASAUBON; THE CLASSICAL TELEGRAPH. From the Epistles of ISAAC CASAUBON, published by THEODORUS JANSON, at Rotterdam, 1709. 66 Epist. 1065. Joanni A. Witten. πυρσείαν et φρυκτωρίαν Græci vocant rationem signifi candi per faces e specula sublatas: ea usi sunt veteres plurimum, in bellis præsertim: occasio enim cum in omni vita plurimum potest, tum in bello maxime: igitur ne perirent occasiones rei bene gerendæ, Tugoslav excogitarunt antiqui, et speculas in altis quisque montibus eo fine ædificarunt, quarum adhuc in montibus Helvetiis nonnullas licet observare: upoeias antiquissima et simplicissima ratio fuit, ut sublatis facibus daretur ejus rei signum, de qua convenerat ; non enim aliud poterant initio significare, quam id, de quo initio convenisset inter dantem signum, et observantem: postea excogitatæ sunt aliæ rationes solertiores atque adeo mirabiles: nam quasi literas calamo scriberent, quidvis per faces significabant: autores hujus inventi commemorat Polybius c. x. ubi etiam rationes eorum explicantur: sed non probat Polyb. omni ex parte, quod ante ipsius tempora aliis fuerat eo in genere inventum': itaque vir ingeniosus hanc novam upreías rationem excogitavit: qui facibus uti volent in speculis ad signum dandum cujuscunque rei, quam significari aliis erit necesse, habeto in suis speculis quisque literas descriptas in quinque tabellis hoc modo: Tabella hæc debet statui in speculæ lorica tam ejus, qui dat signum, quam ejus, qui accepturus est; atque hoc imprimis videndum est, ut speculæ sibi ex adverso quam optime respondeant: præterea, qui faces observat, jubetur a Polybio dioptram habere, i. e. mathematici instrumenti genus, quo oculorum acies missa per canalem tutius dirigitur ad metam propositam : hujus præcipuus usus est, ut qui observat signum, dignoscat probe, ab utro angulo, dextro an sinistro, loricæ opposita literarum signum detur. Nunc explicemus modum: fingamus in aliqua urbe proditos esse a præsidii sui parte: id ut procul significent, ita faciendum: scribendum igitur quam brevissime id fieri, quod velis, puta: : Centum milites defecerunt. vel Proditionem quidam moliuntur: ante omnia, qui parat dare signum, eum qui accepturus est, attendere sibi faciet, facibus toties sublatis, donec alter signum dederit suæ attentionis: id signum est facium ex adverso elatio: postquam attendere cœpit, qui signum expectat, indicanda est illi tabula, in qua prima litera est ejus, quod indicaturus est, puta C, quod est in prima tabula, vel P, quod est in tabula tertia: ergo accedes ad lorica angulum sinistrum, et ut C designes, semel ab loricæ læva parte facem tolles; ut P, ter facem movebis super loricam elatam sic de ceteris. Qui signum aucupatur, indicatam sibi tabellam adnotat, ut mox monstratam in ea literam quærat: tertio superest, ut litera quærenda in tabella significetur: qui dat signum, venit ad lorica dextrum angulum, et quota est litera indicanda in sua tabella, tot facit aupreías, sive facis elationes, puta ut C indicet tres, ut P quinque qui excipit signum datum, facile intelligit, quæ litera sibi indicetur, eamque diligenter annotat, scribitque in tabula parata in eum usum atque simili modo itur ad omnes literas, donec omnibus indicatis reperiatur scriptum in tabella excipientis id, quod ab initio erat propositum: hæc Polybiana ratio est, melior sane inventis aliorum, quæ tamen valde sunt elegantia ea ad Polybium nos ante multos annos exposuimus, et quæ ibi sunt mire involuta et depravata, evolvimus: si Deo Opt. Max. sic olim videbitur, ut eum eximium scriptorem edamus, habebis a me, vir nobilissime et amicissime, meæ in te fidei et amoris testimonium." P. W. B. Jonson's "Noon of Night;"—and Virgil illustrated. B. JONSON seems to have been the first person, who introduced this phrase into the English language; and, as his editor observes, he seems to have been conscious of his boldness, and anxious to protect himself by a reference to the Latin language: from Whalley's note on the Sejanus, vol. 11. p. 239. (ed. 1756.) and from Warton's note on the Il Penseroso, it will be seen that our best poets without hesitation adopted the expression. In addition to the instances produced by Warton, we find it employed by Butler, In dead of night, when the pale moon Had got to the nocturnal noon. Whig's Ghost. and Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, gives us an example from Dryden: Full before him at the noon of night, He saw a quire of ladies. B. Jonson, as we learn from Whalley, referred to Varro, the author, of whom he borrowed it; but, as the passage is not quoted by Mr. Whalley, the learned reader may not be displeased to see it. Repentè noctis circiter meridiem, Quum pictus aer fervidis latè ignibus, Cali ora anastrica ostenderent. Marcipore. Nonius Marcellus, when speaking de Impropriis, quotes these lines from Varro, and says, Meridiem mediam diei partem omnes putant solum esse dicendum, quum et noctis esse eam temporis partem doctorum auctoritas dixerit. Perhaps I shall be excused for employing the CLASSICAL JOURNAL to give a more extensive circulation to the best interpretation of a well-known, but little understood, passage in Virgil, Ecl. s. v. 104. Dic quibus in terris, et eris mihi magnus Apollo, Gesner says in his Thesaurus, under the word Mundus: "Mundos quidam apud Serv. ad Æn. 3. 134. volunt dici aras deorum inferorum: respexit, credo, Serv. ad illam formulam, quâ mundus patere dicitur, de quâ Macrob. Sat. 1. 16. Mundus cùm patet, tristium atque inferum quasi janua patet: proptereà non modò prælium committi, verùm etiam delectum rei militaris causâ habere, ac mili, tem proficisci, navim solvere, uxorem liberorum quærendorum causâ ducere religiosum est:' Festus, h. v. Mundus, ut ait Capito Ateius in libro sexto Pontificali ter in anno patere solet-quo tempore ea, quæ occulta et abdita religionis deorum manium essent, velut in lucem quandam adducerentur et patefierent'-Hunc mundum signare videtur Plutarch. in Romulo, p. 23. Bólpos wpúyn TEρì TO VUV Κομίτιον κυκλοτερής, ἀπαρχαί τε πάντων, ὅσοις νόμῳ μὲν ὡς καλοῖς ἐχρῶντο, φύσει δ ̓ ὡς ἀναγκαίοις, ἐπέθησαν ἐνταῦθα, καὶ τέλος ἐξ ἧς |