which induced the tragic poets to observe the rules respecting the fifth foot of the senarius, which have been discovered and communicated to the world by Mr Porson, we profess ourselves to be unable to give him better information, than that which is delivered by the learned Hermann in the following words (H. p. 109):

"Caussa autem quare ista vocabulorum divisio displicere debet, hæc est. Quoniam in fine cujusque versus, ubi, exhaustis jam propemodum pulmonibus, lenior pronunciationis decursus desideratur, asperiora omnia, quo difficilius pronunciantur, eo magis etiam aures lædunt: propterea sedulo evitatur illa vocabulorum conditio, quæ ultimum versus ordinem longiore mora a præcedente disjungit, eaque re decursum numerorum impedit ac retardat.

To illustrate this doctrine, we may conveniently revert to the first verse of the lon, "Ατλας ὁ χαλκέοισι νώτοις οὐρανόν. It is by no means necessary to have enacted the part of Mercury in the Ion of Euripides, in order to be sensible of the relief which is afforded to the exhausted lungs' of a corpulent performer by that variation of the verse in question which we have already proposed, "Ατλας, ὁ νώτοις χαλκέοισιν οὐρανόν. That the comic poets were not quite so considerate of the lungs of their actors, appears as well by their neglect of this canon, as by the words of inordinate length which they sometimes employ: particularly by one of near eighty syllables, which occurs towards the conclusion of the Ecclesiazusæ of Aristophanes. Hephæstion informs us (ch. 14), that the pazgor, as it was called, of the comic parabasis, ought to be pronounced, ver, without taking breath. In the Birds of Aristophanes, the axgà consists of thirteen and a half dimeter anapestics (v. 723-736), which contain a hundred and thirty-four syllables. Upon the whole, it is not without reason that Mr Hermann (H. p. 140) exults in the following terms over the inaptitude of his rival to investigate the caus- · es of those facts which he had sufficient sagacity to discover:

"Id sponte animadvertisset vir eruditissimus, si non satis haberet observare, sed in caussas etiam earum rerum quas observavit, inquirendum putaret.

We are afraid that we shall exhaust the patience of our readers, although perhaps not their lungs, by the length of our observations on the following passage in Mr Porson's preface (p. 43):

"Nunc Iambicorum genus Comicis fere proprium leviter_attingamus, quod vulgo vocatur Tetrametrum catalecticum. Duabus rebus à Comico senario hoc differt; primo, quod quartus pes semper iambus aut tribrachys sit oportet; secundo, quod

a

sextus pes anapæstum etiam admittit. Sed pes catalecticam syllabam præcedens non iambus esse nequit ; nisi in proprio nomine, ubi conceditur anapastus. Quod de quarto etiam pede intelligi velim. "

We have long suspected, that Mr Porson was mistaken in restricting to the case of proper names the use of anapests in the fourth place of the catalectic tetrameter iambics of the comic poets. The appearance of the third edition of the preface to the Hecuba, without any modification of the doctrine proposed in the edition of 1802, has induced us to examine the question with considerable attention, and to present the result of our examination to our readers.

We have to observe, in the first place, that all the trisyllabic feet which are admissible into comic iambics, are employed with much greater moderation in the catalectic tetrameters, than in the common trimeters. The Plutus of Aristophanes, for instance, commences with two hundred and fifty-two trimeters, which are immediately followed by thirty-seven tetrameters, after which, the measure, although still iambic, becomes antistrophic. Nearly three fifths of the trimeters contain one or more trisyllabic feet in each verse. The thirty-seven tetrameters, on the contrary, exhibit only one tribrach and one dactyl, and not one anapest. In the earlier plays of Aristophanes, trisyllabic feet are used more unsparingly both in trimeters and in tetrameters. But the comparative rarity of those feet in tetrameters is nearly as observable in the Knights, the earliest remaining play of Aristophanes, which contains a considerable number of tetrameters, as in the Plutus, which was written after the versification of the comic stage had begun to assume an appearance of smoothness and regularity, which the contemporaries of the youth of Aristophanes were not desirous of exhibiting. In the second place, we must remark, that the eleven surviving comedies of Aristophanes contain more than six hundred tetrameter iambics, in which number of verses, the edition of Brunck exhibits only seventy anapests which the most obstinate critic will venture to defend. These seventy anapests are found in the following fifty-nine verses: Eq. 343, 345, 351, 352, 357, 359, 360, 407, 414, 415, 422, 424, 428, 433, 884, 896,902, 903, 908, 909, 910. Nub. 1046, 1050, 1062, 1063, 1066, 1075, 1077, 1083, 1372, 1427. Pac. 948. Thesm. 543, 545, 546, 547, 550, 558, 560, 561, 562, 567, 568. Ran. 910, 912, 915, 917, 918, 919, 920, 922, 932, 937, 939, 943, 948, 954, 962. Eccl. 288. If our seventy anapests were distributed equally among all the places of the verse, except the seventh, which may be considered as out of the question, we should find

F 2

eleven

eleven or twelve instances of an anapest in the fourth place. If, upon actual inspection, we discover only three or four such instances, we believe that every person acquainted with the nature of chances, will allow us to attribute the smallness of the number to accident, unless it can be satisfactorily ascribed to some other cause. To exemplify the irregularities which so frequently disturb the calculations of the critical arithmetician, it will be sufficient to mention, that in the Lysistrata, which contains near seventy tetrameters, Aristophanes has not used a single anapest in a verse of that measure; and that in the Thesmophoriazusæ, which play was written nearly at the same time, he has introduced the anapest fifteen times in the forty-three tetrameters which the play contains.

Before Mr Porson's edition of the Hecuba appeared, the learned Hermann had taught the world, in his incomparable work on Metres (p. 176), that the fourth foot of a catalectic tetrameter iambic might be an iambus, a tribrach, an anapest, or a proceleusmatic. Of the proceleusmatic he produces only one instance: Aristoph. Ran. 1063. Πολλοῖς· ὅ γ' οὖν Πηλεὺς ἔλαβε di à TOUTO Thy páxasgav. Of the anapest he gives the nine following instances from Aristophanes: Eq. 421, 836. Nub. 1049, 1369, 1427. Thesm. 560. Ran. 930, 932, 937. Mr Porson (p. 43-46) has enabled us to increase the number of real and apparent instances to nineteen, including a few from other poets.

A. Aristoph. Εq. 421. Ω δεξιώτατον κρέας, ὡς | σοφῶς γε προνοήσω. We heartily concur in Mr Porson's omission of ws. B. Ibid. 836. Ω τοῖσιν ἀνθρώποισι φανείς, | μέγιστον ὠφέλημα. All the editions before Brunck read ἀνθρώποις. C. Ibid. 881. Τονδὶ δ ̓ ἄπου χιτῶνος ὁρῶν ἢ ὄντα TAIKOUTOVÍ. Read with the Ravenna MS. and Brunck in his notes, Τονδὶ δ ̓ ὁρῶν ἄνευ χιτῶ | νος ὄντα τηλικοῦτον. D. Ibid. 884. Taloutori μιστοκλέης | οὐπώποτ ̓ ἐπενόησε. The common reading is Θεμιστοκλῆς, which ought not to be retained without necessity. E. Nub. 1040.. Καὶ τοῖσι νόμοις καὶ ταῖσι δίκαις | τἀναντί ̓ ἀντιλέξαι. Read, Τοΐσιν νόμοις καὶ ταῖς δίκαις. F. Ibid. 1050. Ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδεν ̓ Ηρακλέους | βελτίον άνδρα κρίνω. G. Ibid. 1063. Πολλοῖς· ὃ γ ̓ οὖν Πηλεὺς ἔλαβεν | διὰ τοῦτο τὴν μάχαιραν. The common reading is ἔλαβε, which exhibits a tribrach before an anapest. Mr Porson reads, we apprehend from conjecture, ἔλαβε δι' αὐτὸ. Διὰ τοῦτο appears to us to be preferable to δι' αὐτό. H. Ibid. 1359. οὐ γὰρ τότ ̓ εὐθὺς χρῆν σ ̓ ἄρα τύ το πτεσθαί τε καὶ πατεῖσθαι. Read with Bentley and Porson χρῆν σε τύπτεσθαί τε Ι. Ibid. 1427. Σκέψαι δὲ τοὺς ἀλεκτρυόνας, | καὶ τἆλλα τὰ βοτὰ ταυτί, Κ. Thesm. 548. Οὐπώποτ ̓ ἐποίησεν, ὅτι γυνὴ | σώφρων ἔδοξεν είναι, . Mr Por son reads oino', the second syllable of which word is short. L.. Ibid. 550. Τῶν νῦν γυναικῶν Πηνελόπην, | Φαίδρας δ ̓ ἀπαξαπάσας. Μη Ibid. 560. Οὐ ὡς τὸν ἄνδρα τῷ πελέκει | γυνή κατεπόθησιν. Mr. Porson

Οὐδ ̓

reads

reads Οὐδ ̓ ὡς ἑτέρα τὸν ἄνδρα τῷ | πελέκει κατεσπόδησεν. This lection appears to be derived from Suidas: Κατεσπόδησε. κατέκοψεν. ἑταίρα τὸν ἄνδρα τῷ πελέκει κατεσπόδησε. καὶ κατεσπόδωσεν ὁμοίως. N. Ran. 912. Αχιλλέα τίν, ἢ Νιόβην, | τὸ πρόσωπον οὐχὶ δεικνύς. Ο. Ibid. 930. Α συμβαλεῖν οὐ ῥάδιον ἦν. [ νὰ τοὺς θεοὺς, ἔγωγ ̓ οὖν. Mr Porson reads où jadi. At present we have not leisure to examine whether the comic poets ever use the adjective pads in any other manner than imperson ally, in the neuter gender and singular number. At all events, if the verse requires emendation, we should prefer the omission of to the alteration of piov. O padio without the substantive verb, occurs continually. If we retain the common reading, besides the anapest in the fourth place, to which we do not object, we shall have a division of the anapest similar to that in Ach. 107. Εἰ προσδοκῶσι χρυσίον ἐκ τῶν βαρβάρων. This division is sparingly adopted in the common trimeters, a much more licentious species of metre; and we have observed no instance of it in tetrameters, except the verse now before us. At the same time, we do not pretend to determine, whether the rarity of such anapests in tetrameters is to be attributed to accident or to design. Too few of these verses are preserved, to enable us to decide with confidence on every question relating to their structure. If the Thesmophoriazusa of Aristophanes had been lost, no metrical writer would have hesitated in pronouncing, that the catalectic dipedia or naranλeis of an iambic verse must necessarily be a bacchius, as τραφήναι, πολίτης, πονηρῶν, παρήσω. A solitary instance of an ionic a minore occurs in that play, v. 547, Εγένετο, Μελανίππας ποιῶν, | Φαίδρας τε, Πηνελόπην δέ. This deviation from the ordinary form of the verse is the more remarkable, as it is not caused by necessity. The word so might occupy five different positions in the verse, without producing any irregularity. P. Ran. 932. Τον ξουθὸν ἱππαλεκρυόνα | ζητῶν τίς ἐστιν ὄρνις. Q. Ibid. 937. Οὐχ ἱππαλεκρυόνας, μὰ Δί', οὐδὲ τραγελάφους, ἅπερ σύ. We suspect that the poet wrote, μὲ Δία, καὶ τραγελάφους, δο in Soph. El. 689, some copies read, Oun oida rodd andgos egy oudě gar, instead of the common and true reading, ga nai ngáon. R. Aristophanes apud Athen. p. 372. Β. Χρισοὺς δ ̓ ἴδοις ἂν νιφομένους ¦ σύμ κων ὁμοῦ τε μύρτων, S. Plato Comicus ibid. p. 665, C. Καὶ δὴ κέκραται. τὸν λιβανω | τὸν ἐπιτιθεὶς εἶπε. We suspect the true reading to be ἐπιτ Tídnow ǹ Tais. T. Cratinus apud Suid. atque Etymol. v. Bn, et Eustath. φ. 768, 14. Ὁ δ' ἠλίθιος, ὥσπερ πρόβατον, βὴ βὴ λέγων βαδίζει. Mit Porson attributes this verse to the younger Cratinus. Eustathius simply says, Keativos. Suidas and the Etymologist add the name of the play, Κρατίνος Διονυσαλεξάνδρῳ, which most probably was the work of the elder Cratinus. Mr Porson reads as Roßation. προβάτιον. have no objection to goßrior, but we cannot so readily consent to exchange rate for as. The comic poets almost always use

F 3

اد

οὐδὲ

We

ὥσπερ

Ex

g to express the sense of the English words As it were. amples may be found in the Wasps of Aristophanes, v. 96, 105, 107, 129, 172, 227, 257, 351, 363, 395, 506, 571, 702, 712, 713, 780, 804, 1107, 1111, 1306, 1370. To our ears, as appears to mean something more than mere comparison, as in the following lines of Antiphanes (apud Athen. p. 681, C): Oử ἐφύσων οἱ Λάκωνες, ὡς ἀπόρθητοί ποτε, Νῦν δ ̓ ὁμηρεύουσ ̓ ἔχοντες πορφυροῦς κεeuphous; At all events, if any alteration in the verse of Cratinus were necessary, we should prefer the following representation of it: Ὁ δ' ἠλίθιος, βὴ βὴ λέγων, ὥσπερ πρόβατον, βαδίζει. But we are perfectly satisfied with the common reading.

Of the nineteen preceding verses, the anapest in the fourth foot of six, marked A, B, C, E, H, K, has been removed by corrections which may be considered as quite satisfactory. Four more, marked D, F, L, N, in which the anapest is contained in a proper name, do not militate against Mr Porson's canon. A sufficient proportion of the nine which remain, appears to be placed beyond the reach of emendation, to convince us, that the comic poets did not scruple to employ an anapest in the fourth place of a catalectic tetrameter iambic, whenever they found it convenient to do so. Mr Porson (p. 46) adduces those five which are marked I, P, Q, R, S, without proposing any emendations of them.

In confirmation of our opinion, we will take the liberty of applying Mr Porson's canon to the sixth place, instead of the fourth. The instances of an anapest in the sixth place which we have been able to collect, amount only to twelve. The reader will observe how great a reduction from this number may be made by emendations, not one of which can be called violent or very improbable.

A. Aristoph. Εq. 339. Οὐδ ̓ αὖ μ' ἐάσεις; οὐ μὴ Διμ. | ναὶ μὲ Δία, μὰ τὸν Ποσειδῶ. In order to avoid the dactyl before the anapest, Mε Hermann (M. p. 153) properly reads uà Ale instead of où à Día, as in v. 336. Β. Ibid. 412. Ηνισχόμην ἐκ παιδίων, | μαχαιριδίων τε πλη as. The true reading, paxagidwv, is exhibited in the Ravenna MS. and by Julius Pollux, as Brunck observes in his notes. C. Ibid. 909. Ἰδοὺ δέχου κέρκον λαγῶ, | τὠφθαλμιδίω περιψη». If it were necessary, we might read τὠφθαλμίδια. D. Ibid. 910. Απομυξάμενος, ὦ Δήμ, ἐμοῦ | πρὸς τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποψῶ. Ε. Nub. 1066. Εἴληφε διὰ πονηρίαν, ἀλλ' οὐ μὲ Δί', οὐ μάχαιξαν. We apprehend that the poet wrote, ἀλλ ̓ οὖ, μὲ Δία, μάχαιραν. F. Ibid. 1075. Είεν. πάρειμ ̓ ἐντεῦθεν εἰς | τὰς τῆς Qureæg áváyxas. Read ouros, as in Vesp. 1282, 1458. G. Thesm. 568. Καὶ μὴν ἰδού. καὶ μὴν ἰδού. | λαβὲ θοιμάτιον, Φιλίστη, H. Ibid. 570. Τὸν σησαμοῦνθ', ὃν κατέφαγες, | τοῦτόν σε χεσεῖν ποιήσω. The pronoun was inserted by Brunck without any reason, and against all authority. 1. Ran. 919. Cux ûrtov À vũv ei dadoũy | rig. jhídios" yàg rta. Perhaps

Ис