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Read, nxoróvénasv, as by accident it is published by Joannes Clericus.

Euripides, Cyclops. 144.

Ἐν σέλμασι νεώς ἐστιν, ἢ φέρεις οὗ νιν;

The editions rightly give ciuaan; which added N enables the last syllable of the trisyllabic to support the Ictus. So in this Trochaic verse in Ipheg. in Taur. 1241.

Τοῖς τὰ πλειον ειδόσι θεοῖς σά τε σημαινω θεά.

In the second Dipodia, the words idéri fes do not form a legiti mate Trochaus and Anapastus; for in this metre, when an Anapastus assumes the place of the Trocheus, the regular foot, the Ictus must be made on the first of its three syllables. Thus: answering to- u. The true reading is-idóow fois-and Oros must be pronounced monosyllabice.-Farther illustration

stems unnecessary.

There is still one point of view in which this Canon of Mr. Wakefield must be considered. He asserts that a short vowel at the close of a word is lengthened, ob vim pausæ in syllabá postremâ vocis, at the end of a foot in Anapasticis et Iambicis, and in the beginning of a foot in Heroicis; and that the final Nis unnecessary in such situations.

Ernesti, as was remarked, observes, in Hom. I. A'. 2. that in the Flarentine and first Aldine Homer the final N is generally omitted, in mediq versu, ubi syllaba ultima est in Casurâ.

Mr. Wakefield appears to suppose that the Casura in Iambies is different from the Casura in Heroics; for he assigns one place, namely, the close of the foot, for the influence of the Cesural] pause in the former metre; and another, that is, the beginning of the foot, for the same influence in the latter.

The Iambic metre of the Tragic Poets (for we must confine our remarks to that alone) has two Incisions, or Toμal The first is the Incisio metrica, by which the verse may be divided into single feet, or Dipodia, as: Orest. 1.

Οὐκ ἴσ [ λιν ον [ δεν δει ] νὸν ὠδ' [ ἐιπᾶν | ἔπος,

The second is the Incisio Casurarum, by which the rhythm of the metre is regulated *:

Ουκ ] ἔστιν ουδὲν δεινὸν ὡδ ̓ ἐιπειν ἴπος,

Bentley

So Bentley. It was our wish to have proceeded to some length in the illustration of the incisions of the lambic metre: but the enormous extent of this article compels us to omit what might have proved, perhaps, of some slight utility to those who are desirous of entering deeply into the metrical excellencies of the antient tragedians. We may, however, refer them to the observations of the old Grammarians, published

5

Bentley observes, Schediasm. de Metris Terentianis: OMNE versuum genus suam habet CESURAM sive INCISIONEM, qua verbum terminatur, et vox in decursu paulum interquiescit.

In the Dactylic Heroic Hexameter, this pause frequently appears to lengthen a final short syllable, which falls in the Casura; that is, a short syllable which closes a word and begins a, foot. In Iambic verse, such a power of elongation could never be allowed to the Cesural pause; for the first syllable of every foot, from the nature and constitution of the metre, may be short; and must necessarily be short, in three of the six feet of which the Senarian is composed.

If the Cesural pause were to have effect at the end of the foot, in this metre, the rhythmus of lambics would be totally lost; and we might expect verses in which each Dipodia would consist of two disyllables, or of one quadrisyllable but no such verses, unless in corrupt instances, appear in the Tragedies. They would, indeed, be ranked among the nanouerpa by the old Grammarian Trypho, whom Mr. Burgess has cited in his remarks on Dawes, M. Cr. 441. His whole note merits an attentive perusal.

It is curious to observe that, much in the same manner in which Mr. Wakefield has tried to confine the power of the pause in lengthening short vowels, to the last syllable of the foot, in Tragic lambics, JOHN CORNELIUS DE PAUW has attempted to fix it on the last syllable of the foot in Heroic Hexameters. This doctrine he has promulgated in several of his notes on Quintus Calaber; and he has been very justly reprehended for advancing such an opinion, by Dorville, in his Critica Vannus, p. 318 et seq..

De Pauw had also, long before the appearance of his Quintus Calaber, thus remarked on a verse which he palms on Me» · nander :

Αρκαδικὸς ἀν τἰυναντίον αλίσκεται

(p. 176. Ed. Cler. and apud Athen. IV. p. 132.) after he had scornfully rejected Bentley's corrections; "Nam quod tu fortè,

lished by Putschius: to the decisions of Bentley, in his tract on the metres of Terence; to those of Dawes and his learned editor Burgess; and to the remarks in the Crit. Vann. of Dorville, on the subject of the Cesural pause and power, in Heroic Hexameters and Iambics. The sentiments of Dorville, indeed, are interlarded with a degree of scurrility and abuse which is unpardonable in a philological work. De Pauw merited not compassion; for he was arrogant, abusive, precipitate, and totally without judgment:-yet his blunders might have been corrected, by his adversary, without a forfeiture of that civilized: character which becomes the profound scholar and the genuine critic.

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ignoras, ego una cum Eruditioribus scio, ultima in rouvavlov PRODUCITUR propter spiritum asperum in voce aλ oxilai, et VIM CESURE.""We assert, as we have on some former occasion observed, that the spiritus asper has no power, nor influence, which can lengthen a preceding short final vowel.

Instead of offering any observations on this note of de Pauw, we shall transcribe Dorville's remarks on it, from his Critica Vann. p. 327.

"Vi cæsuræ Tovario producitur, ubi ne quidem umbra cæsuræ est! Sane secundam dadar in trimetro Iambo video in ultima hujus vocis finiri, Casuram nullam deprehendo quin, Metricorum stolidissime, nescis casuram in Iambico nunquam aliquid posse operari ad producendam syllabam. Nam casus in hoc carmine nequit dari, ut syllaba, in quam casura cadit, cum natura sit brevis, ob versum fieri longa debeat. Nam nihil vetat, quo minus brevis maneat. Imo rectius brevis, quam longa, in omni casu erit.

Si in hoc tuo versu fingere velis, syllabam ON posse produci beneficio finite diodías, vel, quam BARNESIUS safe crepat, vi finalis, fingas boc per me licet. Imo quoniam Iambicus ter feritur secundum Terentianum, p. 94. contende ultimam cujusque daedias posse produci non modo, verum etiam ultimam cujusque pedis, quoniam Horatius H. P. Vs. 253. Jambum senos ictus reddere, et EVERTE OMNEM PROSODIAM.”

ait

The quotation is long, but it is too closely allied to the subject before us to admit abbreviation. With it we shall conclude; for it seems unnecessary to pursue this topic farther, In the arguments and proofs which have been advanced, we have endeavoured to evince that Mr. Porson, when he inserted the final N in his edition of the Hecuba, instead of rendering himself liable to censure, deserved the praise of the learned reader.

We have been desirous of shewing, in opposition to the assertions of Mr. Wakefield, that the omission of the final N, when a long syllable is demanded, is not sanctioned in Euripides by the authority of Aldus; and that it is not established by the steady practice of any other editor, nor by the metrical rules of any critic or grammarian, antient or modern *. We

have

The great Bentley's opinion on this subject, though he has expressed it rather carelessly, may be collected from the following passage; in which he begins the examination of the defective Anapestics which Mr. Boyle had produced against the critic's and Terentian's famous Canon:

I. Τὴν Διος αὐλὴν ἐσοιχνεῦσι
Δια την λία,

and the IVth like it,

Prom. 122.

Τὸν δὲ χαλινόις ἐν περίνοισι
Χειμαζόμενοι

Ver. 565.

"These

have aimed at demonstrating that, if such a rejection were to be adopted, it would render the scansion (and, indeed, the rhythm) of several verses doubtful; and that it would totally annihilate the laws by which the Incisio Casurarum, and the consequent pause of the voice, are regulated in the Greek tragedies-the most admirable of all the compositions which have escaped the ravages of time, and the still more levelling destruction of barbarism.

It was originally intended, after an examination of Mr. Wakefield's Diatribe, to have presented our readers with an ample account of Mr. Porson's editions of the Hecuba and Orestes. At that time, however, we had formed no just estimate of the number of pages which this critique would occupy; nor how much our undertaking would trespass on the patience of those readers, who consider the Monthly Review as 2 vehicle of general information. To these, any unusually large portion of classical investigation must in course appear tedious; as the variety of the materials, of which our work is usually composed, forms in their opinion one of its first excellencies. It is incumbent on us, therefore, to comprise in as short a compass as possible our concluding remarks:

"The Critic's laws the Critic's patrons give;

For we, who live to please, must please to live."

With regard to the general merits then of these two plays, our learned friends may form a very just notion, by duly

"These two verses, as our Examiner imagines, are ended with a Trochee, the last syllable being short. Now methinks a man of half the learning of Mr. Boyle might have known, that may be long here, by adding N to it before a consonant, as poets frequently do: εισοιχνευσιν, περίνοισινο

"This very fable, that Mr. B. quotes, might have taught him: Επαοιδᾶισι θέλξει σιερέας. V. 173.

or that verse in Supplic.

Ομβροφόροισι τ' ανέμοις αγρίας. V. 36.

or these of Aristophan.

Αλσι διασμηχθεὶς ἔναι ̓ ἂν ὁδοσί. Plut.

Ιατρὸς ὢν και μαλις ὡς φασι σοφός. Nub.

σι

"In all which places, and a hundred more that it's easie to allege, the syllable is long; as if it were pronounced, iwandãion, oμlgopóροισιν, ἀλεὶ, and φασί. And these examples are all found in the middle of verses, lest the Examiner should make any exceptions, if they were at the end of Anapests."

Bentley's meaning is plain, but the expression is deficient. The words should have been written as they were pronounced; and as the final N was requisite in speaking these verses, it should have been added by the transcriber and printer.

weighing

ignoras, ego una cum Eruditioribus scio, ultima in Touvavlov PRODUCITUR propter spiritum asperum in voce aλoxilai, et VIM CESURE." We assert, as we have on some former occasion observed, that the spiritus asper has no power, nor influence, which can lengthen a preceding short final vowel.

Instead of offering any observations on this note of de Pauw, we shall transcribe Dorville's remarks on it, from his Critica Vann. p. 327.

"Vi cæsuræ Touvasion producitur, ubi ne quidem umbra cæsuræ est! Sane secundam dcdia in trimetro Iambo video in ultima hujus vocis finiri, Casuram nullam deprehendo quin, Metricorum stolidissime, nescis casuram in Iambico nunquam aliquid posse operari ad producendam syllabam. Nam casus in hoc carmine nequit dari, ut syllaba, in quam casura cadit, cum natura sit brevis, ob versum fieri longa debeat. Nam nihil vetat, quo minus brevis maneat. Imo rectius brevis, quam longa, in omni casu erit.

"Si in hoc tuo versu fingere velis, syllabam ON posse produci beneficio finita diodías, vel, quam BARNESIUS safe crepat, vi finalis, fingas hoc per me licet. Imo quoniam Iambicus ter feritur secundum Terentianum, p. 94. contende ultimam cujusque dæidias posse produci non modo, verum

etiam ultimam cujusque pedis, quoniam Horatius H. P. Vs. 253. ait

Jambum senos ictus reddere, et EVERTE OMNEM PROSODIAM.'

The quotation is long, but it is too closely allied to the subject before us to admit abbreviation. With it we shall conclude; for it seems unnecessary to pursue this topic farther, In the arguments and proofs which have been advanced, we have endeavoured to evince that Mr. Porson, when he inserted the final N in his edition of the Hecuba, instead of rendering himself liable to censure, deserved the praise of the learned reader.

We have been desirous of shewing, in opposition to the assertions of Mr. Wakefield, that the omission of the final N, when a long syllable is demanded, is not sanctioned in Euripides by the authority of Aldus; and that it is not established by the steady practice of any other editor, nor by the metrical rules of any critic or grammarian, antient or modern *.

have

The great Bentley's opinion on this subject, though he has expressed it rather carelessly, may be collected from the following pas sage; in which he begins the examination of the defective Anapestics which Mr. Boyle had produced against the critic's and Terentian's famous Canon!

1. Τὴν Διος αυλὴν ἐσοιχνεῦσι
Διὰ τὴν λία

and the IVth like it,

Prom. 122.

Τὸν δὲ χαλινόις ἐν πιρίνισε
Χειμαζόμενοι

Ver. 565.

"These

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