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 (II. p. 109):

"Caussa autem quare ista vocabulorum divisio displicere debet, hæc est. Quoniam in fine cujusque versus, ubi, exhaustīs 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 decarsum numerorum impedit ac retardat.

To illustrate this doctrine, we may conveniently revert to the first verse of the Ion, ̓́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 Ecclesiazuse of Aristophanes. Hephaestion informs ns (ch. 14), that the pangor, as it was called, of the comic parabasis, ought to be pronounced, T, without taking breath. In the Birds of Aristophanes, the paxgor 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 causes 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 a Comico senario hoc differt; primo, quod quartus: pes semper iambus aut tribrachys sit oportet; secundo, quod

sextus pes anapæstum etiam admittit. Sed pes catalecticam syllabam præcedens non ianibus esse nequit ; nisi in proprio nomine, ubi conceditur anapestus. 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 fect 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 tetrame ters 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 obsti'nate critic will venture to defend. These seventy anapests are found in the following fifty-nine verses: Eq. 313, 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. 918. Thesm. 543, 515, 546, 547, 550, 558, 560, 561, 562, 567, 568. Ran. 910, 912,

915, 917, 918, 919, 920, 922, 932, 937, 939, 913, 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

elevent

sleven 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 δι | ὰ τοῦτο τὴν μάχαιραν. 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 προυνοήσω. We heartily concur in Mr Porson's omission of . B. Ibid. 836. Ω τοῖσιν ἀνθρώποισι φανεὶς, | μέγιστον ὠφέλημα. All the editions before Brunck read ἀνθρώποις. C. Ibid. 881. Τονδὶ δ ̓ ἄνευ χιτῶνος ἐξῶν | ὄντα τηλικουτονί. Read with the Ravenna MS. and Brunck in his notes, Τονδὶ δ ̓ ὁρῶν ἄνευ χιτῶ | νος ὄντα τηλικοῦτον. D. Ibid. 884. Τοιουτονὶ Θεμιστοκλέης | οὐπώποτ' ἐπενόησε. The common reading is Θεμιστοκλῆς, which ought not to be retained without necessity. E. Nub. 1040. Καὶ τοῖσι νόμοις καὶ ταῖτι δίκαις ¦ τἀναντί ̓ ἀντιλέξαι. Read, Τοῖσιν νόμοις καὶ ταῖς δίκαις. F. Ibid. 1050. Ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδέν. Ἡρακλέους | βελτίον ̓ ἄνδρα κρίνω. G. Ibid. 1068. Πολλοῖς· ὃ γ ̓ οὖν Πηλεὺς ἔλαβεν | διὰ τοῦτο τὴν xxgav. The common reading is exaß, which exhibits a tribrach before an anapest. Mr Porson reads, we apprehend from conjecture, ἔλαβε δι' αὐτὸ. Aid TOUTO appears to us to be preferable to d αυτό. Η. Ibid. 1959. οὐ γὰρ τότ ̓ εὐθὺς χρῆν σ' ἄρα τί | πτεσθαί τε καὶ πατεῖσθαι. Read with Bentley and Porson χρῆν σε τύπτεσθαί τε. I. Ibid. 1427. Σκέψαι δὲ τοὺς ἀλεκτρυόνας, | καὶ τἆλλα τὰ βοτὰ ταυτί. Thesm. 548. Οὐπώποτ ̓ ἐποίησεν, ὅτι γυνή | σώφρων ἔδοξεν είναι. Mr Porson reads isoins, the second syllable of which word is short. L. Ibid. 550. Τῶν νῦν γυναικῶν Πηνελόπη», η Φαίδρας δ' ἀπαξαπάσας. M. Ibid. 560. Οὐδ' ὡς τὸν ἄνδρα τῷ πελέκει | γυνή κατεσπόδησεν. Mr Porson

K.

reads

reads Οὐδ ̓ ὡς ἑτέρα τὸν ἄνδρα τῷ | πελέκει κατεσπόδησεν. This lection appears to be derived from Suidas: Κατεσποδησε, κατέκοψεν. ἑταίρα τὸν ἄνδρα τῷ πελέκει κατεσπόδησε. καὶ κατεσπόδωσεν ὁμοίως. N. Ran. 912. ̓Αχιλλέα τίν, * Νιόβην, | τὸ πρόσωπον οὐχὶ δεικνύς. Ο. Ibid. 930. Α συμβαλεῖν οὐ ῥᾴδιον ἦν. | νὰ τοὺς θεοὺς, ἔγωγ ̓ οὖν. Mr Porson reads οὐ ῥᾳδι ̓ ἦν. At present we have not leisure to examine whether the comic poets ever use the adjective pads in any other manner than impersonally, 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 jado. 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 Thesmophoriazusæ of Aristophanes had been lost, no metrical writer would have hesitated in pronouncing, that the catalectic dipodia or narazλsis of an iambic verse must necessarily be a bacchius, as τραφῆναι, πολίτης, πονηρῶν, παρήσω. A solitary instance of an ionic a minore occurs in that play, v. 547. Εγένετο, Μελανίππας ποιῶν, | Φαίδρας τε, Πη | νελόπην δε. This deviation from the ordinary form of the verse is the more remarkable, as it is not caused by necessity. The word I might occupy five different positions in the verse, without producing any irregularity. P. Ran. 932. Τὸν ξουθὸν ἱππαλεκρυόνα | ζητῶν τίς ἐστιν ὄρνις. Q. Ibid. 937. Οὐχ ἱππαλεκρυόνας, μὰ Δί', οὐ δὲ τραγελύφους, ἅπερ σύ. We suspect that the poet wrote, μà Día, xai reatha Yous. So in Soph. El. 689, some copies read, Ox ada Tolûd' avôgòs igy' ovdě κράτη, instead of the common and true reading, έργα καὶ κράτη. R. Aristophanes apud Athen. p. 372. Β. Χρισοὺς δ ̓ ἴδοις ἂν νιφομένους | ενο κων ὁμοῦ τε μύρτων. S. Plato Comicus ibid. p. 665, C. Καὶ δὴ κέκραταιο τὸν λιβανω | τὸν ἐπιτιθεὶς εἶπε. We suspect the true reading to be ἐπισ Tidnowy ʼn mais. T. Cratinus apud Suid. atque Etymol. 1. B, et Eustath. Ρ. 768, 14. 'Ο δ' ἠλίθιος, ὥσπερ πρόβατον, βὴ βὴ λέγων βαδίζει. Mir Person attributes this verse to the younger Cratinus. Eustathius simply says, Keatives. 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 goзation. We προβάτιον. have no objection to goßário, but we cannot so readily consent to exchange rate for us. The comic poets almost always use F 3 ὥσπερ

Ex

dog 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, is appears to mean something more than mere comparison, as in the following lines of Antiphanes (apud Athen. p. 681, C'): Ove ἐφύσων οἱ Λάκωνες, ὡς ἀπόρθητοί ποτε, Νῦν δ ̓ ὁμηρεύουσ' ἔχοντες πορφυρούς και xguerous; At all events, if any alteration in the verse of Cratinus were necessary, we should prefer the following representation of it: 'ο δ' ηλίθιος, 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 suflicient 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' εάσεις; οὐ μὰ Δια. | καὶ μὲ Δία, μὲ τὸν Ποσειδῶ. In order to avoid the dactyl before the anapest, Mr Hermann (M. p. 153) properly reads à Aix instead of où på Ain, as in v. 336. Β. Ibid. 412. Ηνεσχόμην ἐκ παιδίων, | μαχαιριδίων τε πληγα ys. The true reading, paxigidan, is exhibited in the Ravenna MS. and by Julius Polux, as Brunck observes in his notes. C. Ibid. 909. Ἰδοὺ δέχου κέρκον λαγῶ, | τεφθαλμιδίω περιψη». If it were necessary, we might read raptaspidia. D. Ibid. 910. 'Arquv‡ápivos, & Ahn, ἐμοῦ | πρὸς τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποψῶ. Ε. Nub. 1066. Είλαψε διὰ ποιηξίαν, ἀλλ' οὐ μὲ Δί', οὐ μάχαιραν. We apprehend that the poet wrote, άλλ' εὐ, μὰ Δία, μάχαιραν. F. Ibid. 1075. Είν. πάρειμ' ἐντεῦθεν εἰς | τὰς τῆς Obrews avdynas. Read Quotes, as in Vesp. 1282, 1458. G. Thesm. 508. Καὶ μὴν ἰδού. καὶ μὲν ἰδού. | λαβὶ θοιμάτιον, Φιλίστη. Η. 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. Og deres n sto di XxAdiv|715. &Mifios quç örüz. Perhaps

We