det aut bona ejus poplice possideantur facito. Seiquis mag. multam inrogare volet,

12. [ei multam inrogare liceto, dum minoris] partus familias taxsat liceto; eiq. omnium rerum siremps lex esto, quasei sei is haace lege.

13. [multam HS....exegisset.]

12. dum minoris partus familias taxsat. See above, § 22, on the Lex Silia. Partus is the genitive case, like Castorus, cap. 3, 1. 17. Siremps is explained by Festus, p. 344: "Siremps ponitur pro eadem, vel, proinde ac ea, quasi similis res ipsa. Cato in dissuadendo legem... relicta est: Et præterea rogas, quemquam adversus ea si populus condempnaverit, uti siremps lex siet, quasi adversus leges fecisset."

CAP. 3. On binding the judges and magistrates by an oath to observe the law.

14. [Cos. pr. aid. tr. pl. q. IIIvir. cap. IIIvir. a. d. a. qu] ei nunc est, is in diebus v proxsumeis, quibus queique eorum sciet h. l. popolum plebemve 15. [joussisse jouranto utei infra scriptum est. Item dic. cos. pr. mag. eq. cens. aid. tr. pl. q. IIIvir cap. vir a. d. a. joudex ex h. l. plebice scito 16. [factus queiquomque eorum plosthac factus erit, eis in diebus v proxsumeis quibus quisque eorum mag. inperiumve inierit, jouranto

17. utei infra scriptum est. Eidem consistunto in ae] de Castorus palam luci in forum corsus, et eidem in diebus v apud q. jouranto per Jorem deosque 18. [penateis, sese quae ex h. 1. facere oportebit facturum, neque sese adrorsum h. l. facturum scientem d. m. neque seese facturum neque interce

surum

19. [quo quæ ex h. l. oportet minus fiant. Qu]ei ex h.l. non jouraverit, is magistratum inperiumve nei petito neive gerito neive habeto, neive in senatu

20. [si adfuerit sententiam dicere e]um neive eum censor in senatum legito.

joudicaverit, is facito apud q. urb.

quis sinito

Quei ex h. l.

21. [nomen ejus quei jouraverit scriptum siet, quaestorque ea nomina accipito et eos quei ex h. l. apud sed jourarint facito in taboleis

22. [popliceis scriptos habeat].

L. 15. i. e. Dictator, consul, prætor, magister equitum, censor, ædilis, tribunus plebei, quæstor, triumvir capitalis, triumvir agris dandis adsignandis.

L. 17. palam luci in forum versus.

III. 24.

See Cic. de Offic.

CAP. 4. On the oath of the senators.

23. [Quei senator est inve senatu sententiam deixer[in]t post hance legem rogatam, eis in diebus x proxsumeis, quibus quisque [eorum sciet h. l.]

24. [populum plebemre joussisse, j]ouranto apud quaestorem ad aerarium palam luci per Jorem de [osqu]e penate[is sese quæ ex h. l.

25. [facere oportebit facturum, neque see]se adrorsum hance legem facturum esse, neque seese

L. 24. ad ærarium. See Liv. XXIX. 37. Per Jovem deosque penateis. Comp. Cic. Acad. IV. 20.

ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET.

§ 1. Organic classification of the original Latin alphabet. § 2. The labials. § 3. The gutturals. § 4. The dentals. § 5. The vowels. § 6. The Greek letters used by the Romans. § 7. The numeral signs.

THE

§ 1. Organic Classification of the Original Latin Alphabet. THE genuine Latin alphabet,—or that set of characters which expressed in writing the sounds of the Roman language before it had borrowed from the Greek a number of words, and the means of exhibiting them to the eye,-may be considered as consisting of nineteen letters; that is, of the representatives of the original Cadmean syllabarium (which consisted of sixteen letters), with an appendix comprising the secondary vowels, or vocalised consonants, I and u, and the secondary sibilant x = sh.

If we distribute these nineteen letters according to their natural or organic classification, we shall have the following arrangement :

It will be most convenient, as well as most methodical, to consider these letters according to this classification, which will be justified by the investigation itself.

The labials consist of three mutes and the liquid м. The regular changes of the labial mutes, in the principal languages of the Indo-Germanic family, have been thus indicated by James Grimm, to whom we owe the discovery of a most important law (Deutsche Gramm. I. p. 5841), which may be stated thus in its application to all three orders of mutes:

This law, applied to the labials only, may be expressed in the

To take the instances given by Grimm himself,-the first column is confirmed, as far as the Latin language is concerned, by the following examples: cannabis (kávvaßis), Old Norse hanpr, Old High German hanaf; turba (Oopúẞn), Goth. thaúrp, O. H. G. dorof; stabulum, O. N. stöpull, O. H. G. staphol. To which may be added, labi, Anglo-Saxon slipan, O. H. G. sliuffan. These instances are confined to the occurrence of the labials in the middle of words; for there are no German words beginning with P, and no H. G. words beginning with F.

The second column is supported as follows: Initials-fagus (pnyós), O. N. beyki, O. H. D. puocha; fero (pépw), Goth. baíra, O. H. G. piru; fui (pów), Ang.-Sax. bëon, O. H. G. pim ; flare, Goth. blasan, O. H. G. plasan; fra-n-gere (pńyvvμi), Goth. brikan, O. H. G. prëchan; folium (þúλλov), O. N. blad, O. H. G. plat; frater (Þpnτýp), Goth. brothar, O. H. G. pruoder.

1 Mr Guest maintains that this celebrated law is invalidated by very serious exceptions (Proceedings of the Philol. Soc. III. pp. 179, sqq.)

The Latin language furnishes no instances of this rule in its application to the middle sounds. In νεφέλη, κεφαλή, γράφειν and such like, the Latin equivalents present b or p; compare nebula, caput, s-cribere. The reason for this is to be sought in

the aversion of the Roman ear from F as a middle sound.

The third column rests on the following induction: Initials— pes (pedis), Goth. fotus, O. H. G. vuoz; piscis, Goth. fisks, O. H. G. visc; pater, Goth. fadrs, O. H. G. vatar; plenus, Goth. fulls, O. H. G. vol; pecus, Goth. faihu, O. H. G. vihu; palma, Angl.-Sax. folma, O. H. G. volma; pellis, Goth. fill, O. H. G. vël; pullus, Goth. fula, O. H. G. volo; primus, Goth. frumists, O. H. G. vromist. Middle sounds-sopor, O. N. svefn, O. Sax. suèlhan; septem, Angl.-Sax. sëfon, Goth. sibun; afer, Angl.Sax. ëofor, O. H. G. ëbar; super, Goth. ufar, O. N. yfir, O. H. G. ubar; rapina, Angl.-Sax. reáf, O. H. G. roub.

These may be taken as proofs of the general application of Grimm's rule to the Latin labials. If, however, we examine the use of the separate letters more minutely, we shall find great vacillation even within the limits of the Latin language itself.

The medial в seems to have approximated in many cases to the sound of v; at other times it came more nearly to P. We find in old Latin the forms Duillius, duonus, duellum, &c. by the side of Billius, bonus, bellum, &c. Now, there is no doubt that the proper abbreviation of these forms would be e. g. donus or vonus, and so on. The labial representative bonus, therefore, shows a sort of indifference between the occasional pronunciation of B and v. This view is confirmed by a comparison of duis, which must have been the original form, with dis on the one hand, and bis, bes, vi-ginti on the other. The same appears particularly in the change from Latin to Italian or French, as in habere avere avoir, habebam=aveva=avois, Aballo Avalon, Cabellio Cavaillon, Eburovices-Evreux, &c., or conversely, as in Vesontio = Besançon. The commutation of b and v in the Spanish language gave occasion to Scaliger's epigram :

p. 36.

=

=

Haud temere antiquas mutat Vasconia voces
Cui nihil est aliud vivere quam bibere1.

1 Penny Cycl. III. p. 220. See also Scaliger de Caus. L. L. I. c. 14. In older Latin we have Fovii by the side of Fabii (Fest. p. 87), Sevini by the side of Sabini (Plin. H. N. III. 12), Stovenses by the side of