before you. In the earlier ages of the Gospel, so violent and so extensive was the prejudice, which the Gentiles entertained. against the followers of Christ, that they despised their understandings, as much as they abhorred their doctrines. While they viewed with sovereign contempt the productions of the Christian writers, they considered their own historians, poets, and philosophers, as containing every thing which can be known, or deserves to be known, by man. Influenced by this two-fold feeling, they confined themselves exclusively to Pagan authors; and while the Christians were well acquainted with their religion, annals, and philosophy, they knew but little of the scriptures, or of those who had expounded them. If Heliodorus had been born a Heathen, he would most probably have drunk of the same prejudices, and steered his bark in the same current, with the contemporary Heathens. It is evident, from every part of his work, that he had enriched himself with the choicest spoils of Grecian antiquity: had he been a Pagan in his principles, as well as in his studies, he would not have quitted, for an instant, the fields of Attica; he would have rifled no other meadow, and collected sweets from no other hive. I am convinced, however, from the perusal of his romance, that he was well acquainted with the writings of St. Paul, and of some of the most distinguished fathers; and I trust that the proofs which I am going to adduce, will be admitted as decisive. St. Paul in 2 Cor. ch. xi. has the following words, κινδύνοις ποταμῶν, κινδύνοις λῃστῶν, κινδύνοις ἐν θαλάσση. In the second book of Heliodorus, Theagenes bewailing his accumulated misfortunes, thus speaks of the Fury whom he supposes to have caused them, κινδύνοις θαλάττων, κινδύνοις πειρατηρίων ὑποβάλουσα, λῃσταῖς παράδουσα. Surely this remarkable repetition of the word xívtuvos was not casual. In the Epistle to the Philippians, ch. ii. St. Paul writes, oux apпaɣμòν yhσатo TÒ εiva! Toα = And in the 7th book of Heliodorus we meet with the following passage, καὶ οὐχ ἅρπαγμα, οὐδὲ ἑρμαῖον ἡγεῖται To päуua. There are several expressions scattered up and down this author, of which some are imitated, and others exactly co

Wetstein quotes the passage of Heliodorus in his Edition of the New Testament, and he also quotes in the proper place the second passage of Heliodorus, cited by Mr. Boyd, as well as two others, vii. 11. Thy SuvTuxIÀY ἅρπαγμα καὶ ὥσπερ ἄγρας ἀρχὴν ποιησαμένη, viii. 7. "Αρπαγμα τὸ ῥηθὲν ἐποιήσατο ἡ ̓Αρσάκη, As to the passage of Heliodorus, which Mr. Boyd quotes from the eighth book, we refer him to a note of Mr. Elmsley on the Heraclide of Euripides, where he will find some other passages involving the same metaphorical allusion to marriage and death in the same sentence. The betrothed virgin, who dies before her marriage, is often represented by the tragedians as a bride for Pluto, as married to death, as having the grave for her bridal chamber, with other analogous ideas. ED.

pied, from Gregory Nazianzen. As the nature of your work compels me to be brief, I shall select one instance of the latter kind. In one of his orations against the Arians, St. Gregory describes an immodest youth, αἰσχρὰ λυγιζόμενον καὶ καμπτόμενον. Heliodorus has the same words; and it is remarkable that in the Editio Princeps of both these writers, the text is corrupted in the same manner. The first edition of both for λυγιζόμενον reads λογιζόμενον. I shall now proceed to St. Basil, between whom and our author there is a very singular coincidence. In his Funeral Oration on the Martyr Julitta, St. Basil gives us a relation of the manner in which she was burnt. He thus describes the flame which ascended from the pile, ὥσπερ τις θάλαμος φώτεινος περίσχουσα τὸ σῶμα. eighth book of Heliodorus, Chariclea is placed upon a lighted pile, and her biographer most elegantly pourtrays her ἐπιφαιδρυνομένην ἐκ τοῦ περιαυγάσματος τὸ κάλλος, καὶ οἷον ἐν πυρινῷ θαλάμω νυμ φευομένην.

In the

Having pointed out some of those passages in which Heliodorus has been an imitator, I shall notice one wherein I conceive him to have been imitated, by no less a man than Shakespeare. In the third book a most enchanting description is given us of the person, the beauty, and the dress of Chariclea, whose hair áruλoì xλæves ἔστεφον διαδέοντες, καὶ σοβεῖν ταῖς αὔραις ἔξω τοῦ πρέποντος οὐκ ἐφιέντες. Hamlet speaking of his father says,

That he might not beteem the winds of Heaven
Visit her face too roughly.

Shakespeare's fine expression, A sea of troubles, is as old as St. Gregory and Heliodorus; for in that eminent father of the church we find κλύδων ταραχῶν; and in the father of romance, κλύδων govTioμárov. It is older than either of them, for Æschylus in his Persæ has κακῶν πέλαγος.

I

October 3, 1813.

H. S. BOYD.

This expression is much more common in the ancient writers than Mr. Boyd seems to think. Thus we have in the Prometheus of Æschylus, v. 1051. οἷος σε χειμὼν καὶ κακῶν τρικυμία

ἔπεισ ̓ ἄφυκτος,

and in the Hippolytus of Euripides, v. 824.

κακῶν δ' ὦ τάλας, πέλαγος εἰσορῶ

τοσοῦτον, ὥστε μήποτ' ἐκνεῦσαι πάλιν,

μηδ' ἐκπερᾶσαι κῦμα τῆσδε συμφορᾶς,

where Professor Monk cites the first passage, as well as many others from Eschylus and Euripides.

ED

CRITICAL REMARKS ON RACINE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL.

I BELIEVE there is no passage in any of the French Tragedies, which has been more generally celebrated both by French and English critics, than the following noble line in the Athalie of Racine.

Je crains Dieu, cher Abner, et n'ai point d'autre crainte.

As we know that this admirable poet was not unacquainted with the Grecian literature, I think we should have reason to suspect him of having borrowed the idea, were we to meet with such a passage as the following in any Greek author : ἓν τούτῳ φοβερὸν ἦν μόνον καὶ φευκτὸν, τὸ προσκροῦσαι Θεῶ, ἕτερον δὲ οὐδέν.

The above are actually the words of Chrysostom, delineating the character of St. Paul. They may be found in the eighth volume of Saville's edition, page 37.

There is also so striking a resemblance between the following passages of St. Gregory and Voltaire, that it well merits our attention. The French poet is speaking of a man who lived in Henry's court without being infected with its vices or its follies. He says,

Fair Arethusa, thus thy happy stream
Flows in the furious bosom of the sea;
A crystal current ever pure and clear,
And uncorrupted by the briny wave.

Not having the French original by me, I quote these lines from an English version of the Henriade. Nazianzen in his poem De Vita sua, thus describes the pure and innocent life which he led at Athens, though surrounded by the gay, the giddy, and the profligate.

Οὕτω διεξῄειμεν ἥσυχον βίον,

Πηγή τις οἶμαι πόντιος καθ ̓ ὑδάτων

Γλυκεῖα πικρῶν, ὥσπερ οὖν πιστεύεται.

In his Funeral Oration on St. Basil, he employs the same figure, as an illustration of the same circumstance. Having quoted in another place the expressions he makes use of, I shall not repeat them here. See Select Passages from St. Chrysostom &c. page

292.

October 16, 1813.

H. S. BOYD.

NOTICE OF

THESAURUS CRITICUS NOVUS, sive SYNTAGMA SCRIPTIONUM PHILOLOGICARUM RARIORUM ÆVI RECENTIORIS, cum Indicibus locupletissimis, Tom. I. Lipsiæ, 1802. 8vo. pp. 222.

THE Editor of this Thesaurus is the diligent and learned Schaefer. We shall cite the preface, which is short: we do not find from it that he has enriched the work with any additional observations:

"Opus exordimur multis multorum prisca literaturæ amantium votis diu expetitum. In quo instituendo quid nobis consilii fuerit, quibusque momentis totum hoc quidquid est negotii ponderandum sit, melius ex hoc ipso, quod nunc damus, specimine, quam ex verbosa præfatione, intelligetur. Ingens recentioribus temporibus, maxime in terris exteris, scriptionum philologico-criticarum numerus prodiit. Insignis plurimarum præstantia, sed magna exemplorum raritas. Harum optimas quasque, acerbo delectu habito, commode_digestas indicibusque copiosissimis instructas deinceps repetemus. In primo hoc Thesauri Critici Novi volumine libelli hi continentur:

1. Diatribe de Aristoxeno, Philosopho Peripatetico, auctore Guil. Leonardo Mahne, Amstelodami, 1793. 8.. pp. 219. Auctor ex Wyttenbachii disciplina profectus, omnem de Aristo xeno, clarissimo viro, quæstionem magna cum doctrina lucidoque ordine explicuit, ut hic libellus dignissimus sit, qui præstantioribus hujus generis scriptionibus annumeretur; neque pauca insunt quantivis pretii, depromta illa ex ipsius Wyttenbachii copiis :

:

2. Suspicionum Specimen, auctore Erico Huberto Van Eldik, Zutphaniæ, 1764. 4. pp. 52. Egregium tirocinium Eldikii, critici in paucis acuti nobilitatem est felicissimum viri ingenium maxime iis, qua Valckenarius in Theocrito, et Brunckius in Sophocle publici Juris fecerunt. Sequetur mox alterum volumen, quod etiam Indices locupletissimos, Auctorum, Verborum, et Rerum, tenebit. Scripsi Lipsia Nundinis vernalibus 1802.

G. H. S."

We shall cite from the critical remarks of Mahne only two pas sages:

P. 62. "Athenæus XIII. p. 555. ois rò indoor dwner, quos ad scribendum provocavit Aristoteles, male versum a Dalechampio, potius vertendum, quibus, ut hoc scriberent, causam (occasionem) præbuit Aristoteles diripov rivi didóvar est dictio translata a musices arte, de magistro, qui signum dat, hinc deinceps ad alia transfertur, et incitandi vim habet, vid. Bud. Comment. L. G. Gatak. ad M. Antonin. p. 336. Periz. ad Æl. V. H. xiv. 41."

In p. 96. Mahne cites Valckenaer in Lex. Etym. Lennepio Scheidiano, v. júw: "Verba, inquit, igue et ju apud Homerum permutantur

et significant trahere: forma activa pœne obsolefacta apud posteros invaluere púscoa, et igúra, in quibus vis media viguit ad se trahendi; inde manavit notio liberandi, liberatumque sibi vindicandi: extrahere Latinis etiam est liberare, Nescis ex quanta me ærumna extraxeris, Te.entii versus est in Hecyra A. iv. S. IV. v. 35.: eximie fractal significabat a morte liberare, in bavárov Axs, ut interpretatur Ammonius: hac vi adhibetur in scriptis N. F. et apud Scriptores veteres optimos, Herodotum ex. gr. p. 446. Sophocl. in Ajace v. 1299.” Mahne then adds the following Note: "Ne quis frustra quærat loca cl Valck. laudata, monendum est Terentii versum exstare A. v. S. 4. prope finem fabule, et Sophoclis v. 1295, sed ad liberandi significationem v. fub quod spectat, eam egregie indicant verba ÆI. V. H. IV. 5. Ἡρακλῆς εἰς τοὺς Μολοττοὺς ἀφικόμενος ἐῤῥύσατο τὸν Θησέα κ. τ. λο L. XIII. c. 12. Meto astronomus præsagiens futuras calamitates Tò πλοῦν ἐφυλάττετο δεδιὼς καὶ σπεύδων τῆς ἐξόδου ἑαυτὸν ῥύσασθαι, Diodor. Sic. xII 64. Ο δ' Ανυτος ἰσχυρῶς κινδυνεύων ἐῤῥύσατο χρήμασι τὴν ἴδιας ψυχήν, Herodian. I. 12. παρδάλεως δέ ποτε οξυτάτῳ δρόμῳ τὸν ἐκκαλούμενον καταλαβούσης, φθάσας τῷ ἀκοντίῳ μέλλουσαν δήξασθαι, τὴν μὲν ἀπέκτεινε, τὸν di furato: D. Lucas in Evang. 1. 74. Paul. in Ep ad Coloss. 1. 13. et passim alibi: neque apud Latinos infrequens est usus v. extrahere pro liberare; sufficiat addere alium Terentii locum ex Phorm. A. 1.

Sc. IV. v. 3.

Eguerda, which is omitted by Mr. Blomfield, occurs in the Prom. τ. 243. ἐξερυσάμην βροτοὺς τοῦ μὴ διαῤῥαισθέντας εἰς Αἴδον μολεῖν, which militates against the distinction of Ammonius, Ρύεσθαι καὶ ἐρύεσθαι διαφορὰν ἔχει πρὸς ἄλληλα· τὸ μὲν γὰρ φύεσθαι, ἐκ θανάτου ἕλκειν, τὸ δὲ ἐρύεσθαι, φυλάσσειν.

Of Van Eldik's Suspicionum Specimen we shall give a separate

Notice.

We conclude that the second volume of the Thesaurus has long ago made its appearance in Germany, but it has never met our eye. Notices of works of this kind are exceedingly useful to persons collecting libraries, who may be mistaken in thinking that they are adding to the stock of their books, when they have perhaps already the tracts in their separate form; as well as to the youthful student, who, anxious as he may be of examining any particular tract, may be unable to purchase it from its rarity in the separate form, and can have access to it in such collections.