EURIPIDIS splendidum melos, quo in primis delectabatur Porsonus, et ab ipso typis exscriptum, cum notulis er Kiddii Porsonianis, p. 392.-Latine redditum. μή μοι μήτ' Ασιήτιδος Εἰ δὲ θεοῖς ἦν ξύνεσις, καὶ σοφία κατ ̓ ἄνδρας, δίδυμον ἂν ἤβαν ἔφερον, φανερὸν χαρακτῆρ ἀρετῆς ὅσοισι μέτα· καὶ θανόντες εἰς αὐγὰς3 πάλιν ἁλίου καὶ τῷδ ̓ ἦν τούς τε κακοὺς ἄν 1. Νε ἄχθος cum νεότας jungatur, legit Muretus, & νεότας μοι φίλον· τὸ δὲ γῆρας ἄχθος ἀεὶ, quod metro nocet. Metro quidem convenienter et levi sane mutatione Musgravius, ἄχθος δὲ τὸ γῆρας ἀεί. Sed rationem redde, quare vulgata lectio potius servanda videatur. [Rationem reddit ipse vir summus Adverss. p. 271.] [2. κεῖσαι Aldus. 3. καὶ θνατοὶ ἐς τὰς αὐ. Ald. Emendavit Reiskius. --4. βιοτάν ἴσον ἅτ ̓ ἐν νεφέλαισιν ἄστ Οὐ παύσομαι τὰς Χάριτας κελαδεί μναμοσύναν. Hercules Furens 637-(D. MIHI est Juventus pondus amabile: Non si refertis plena opibus domus, Barbarico cumulata luxu Mutem juventâ:-divitiis tamen In maris atra abeat recessus! Mens fuerat sapientis ævi Muneribus, duplicem juventam. Nec nos iniquis sola comes malis Sed sola signasset nefandos Ald. στάδιον Reisk. cujus nomen bis omittit Beckius.-5. Τωεὶ τοὺς—Ald. Emendavit Porsonus ad Med. 157.6. ἢ et εὐμουσίας Ald. μὴ - ἀμ. Stobæus.] • Vide Class. Journ. No. XXII. p. 352. 1. 12. Discrimini esset moribus hoc bonis, R. TREVELYAN, A. M. ON THE ANCIENT DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSE. THERE is a mode of expression, very common among Classical authors, which I think has not been sufficiently noticed. When they spoke of the composition of bodies known to them, they considered them as containing Four Elements. This is well known, and continued in use till it was discovered that most, if not all, of those four elements are compounds. But when they spoke generally of the Universe, with reference rather to its grand divisions, than its component parts, they made but three divisions, Heaven, Earth, and Sea. These they called the tria corpora into which the whole is divided. Lucretius is clear upon the subject, in that magnificent passage, announcing the general dissolution of the whole, which every lover of Classical poetry admires and remembers: Principio, Maria, ac terras, cœlumque fuere : Lib. v. v. 93. Ovid, who loved Lucretius, and often alluded to his words, has said of him, that his writings would not perish till that fatal day came : Carmina sublimis tunc sunt peritura Lucretî, Amor. i, 15, 23. But the passage in his Fasti, where he more particularly quotes Lucretius, on this subject, has never been understood, for want of recollecting this threefold division. All the Commentators, that I have seen, either leave it unexplained, or blunder about the elements, trying to account for his making them 3 instead of 4. Yet here he uses some of the most remarkable words of his predecessor, the tria corpora: Post chaos, ut primum data sunt tria corpora mundo, Fasti, v. 11. But if this was obscure, another passage of the same poet might explain it : Explicat ut causas rapidi Lucretius ignis, Tristia, ii. 425. The very same threefold division is made by Ovid in the opening of the Metamorphoses: Ante mare, et tellus, et quod tegit omnia cœlum, Unus erat toto naturæ vultus in orbe, Met. i. What is that but a direct paraphrase of the Post chaos, &c. above cited? Nor is this all in another place he gives it in a different form: Prima fuit rerum confusa sine ordine moles, Unaque erat facies, sidera, terra, fretum. De Art. Am. ii. 467. In the passage of the Fasti, Ovid also disposes of his three parts, according to their nature: Pondere terra suo subsedit, et æquora traxit, At cælum levitas in loca summa tulit. Fasti, v. 13. The elegy to Livia, which some have ascribed to Pedo Albinovanus, but others, with more probability, to Ovid himself, speaks almost in the same words as Ovid: Tendimus huc omnes, metam properamus ad unam, Ecce necem intentam calo, terræque, fretoque, v. 361. Virgil makes the same distribution of things: Ecl. iv. v. 50. Again, when he speaks of the violence of the winds, he says olus did not restrain them, they would carry the uni that, if verse before them. Ni faciat, maria, ac terras, cœlumque profundum En. i. 58. The same partition is employed by the author of the poem on Ætna, now attributed to Lucilius Junior, but formerly to Cornelius Severus: Diviso corpore mundi, In maria, ac terras, ac sidera. v. 100. Hence the common exclamation of "O cœlum, O terra, O maria Neptuni," as given to Demea in Ter. Adelph. v. 3. implies calling the whole universe to witness. Manilius, speaking of the governing mind of the universe, says: Namque canam tacita naturam mente potentem L. ii. 59. Prudentius, a very late poet, has retained the same idea : Terra, calum, fossa Ponti, trina rerum machina. De mirac. Christi. Nor are we without authority from the Greeks. Aristophanes, when he describes the universe as arising from the operation of love, says, Πρότερον δ ̓ οὐκ ἦν γένος ἀθανάτων, πρὶν"Ερως ξυνέμιξεν ἅπαντα, Συμμιγνυμένων δ ̓ ἑτέρων ἑτέροις, γένετ ̓ οὐρανὸς, ὠκεανός τε, Καὶ γῆ, πάντων τε Θεῶν μακάρων γένος ἄφθιτον. Aves, v. 701. That the illustration of this fact might be carried much further, I have not any doubt, but I have sent you what has occurred in my own reading, which seems to be amply sufficient to establish the usage which I have here remarked, and to prevent the future misinterpretation of some very poetical and luminous passages. NOTICE OF R. NARES. CONSIDERATIONS on the NATURE and TENDENCY of CLASSICAL LITERATURE, with remarks on the discipline at present pursued in the free Grammar school of King Charles II. at Bradford in the County of York. By the Rev. Samuel Slack, M.A. Headmaster of the School, late Chaplain of Christ Church, Oxford. OUR readers, who are interested in the cause of liberal education, are acquainted with the able pamphlets lately published on the subject by Dr. Knox, and Dr. Butler of Shrewsbury. |