Page images
PDF
EPUB

strong feelings."

14

Perhaps, too, he thought of the shame 15 of the suitors of Penelope, when none of them was able16 to bend the bow of Ulysses.

Exercise V.

On Gesner's Critical Method.

3

THE editions of Greek and Latin authors which he published, are undoubtedly calculated' to give a sort of lesson in the correct and advantageous performance of such works. His criticism was subdued, strict, accurate, learned, and successful. He preferred the explanation of difficult and obscure passages to adapting them' by corrections to the more common intelligence he praised rather than approved of3 ingenious conjectures, and maintained' that nothing was more to be guarded against in criticism than those agreeable enticements of ingenuity; not that he undervalued ingenuity when it was long disciplined by learning and scholarship, for by this he too made not a few happy emendations. In revising and explaining an author, he attached most importance to a continuous and repeated perusal of the text, by which the character of the writer himself might be thoroughly known and almost assumed. He thought that most commentators had failed to see the truth, had taught what was foreign to the mode of the writer, and fallen into inconsistencies, chiefly because they had neglected such a mode of reading; and he has fully expressed his sentiments on this head in the preface to the Scriptores Rustici. Accordingly, he did not approve of excessive procrastination on the part of editors, which, he said, often occasioned forgetfulness of those things which the writer or editor had said before. In interpretation and illustration he aimed at brevity, but such brevity as left nothing to be desired. Accordingly, he did not overwhelm his readers, but rather aided them by his notes; nor did he attend to words only, but even more than this to the subject matter." In my opinion, there is no more

excellent pattern of a good and elegant version of a Greek author, than the Latin translation of Lucian, which he had undertaken when it was given up by the famous Hemsterhuis;10 so pure is it, so elegant, so close to the style of Lucian without violating the Latin idiom. His labours on that author, however, were the more successful on this account also, as I think, because, from his youth, he had carefully read and almost appropriated him.

Exercise VI.

On a Saying of Democritus.

10

4

WISE men have often remarked, that opinions should be estimated not by number, but by weight; and that the judgment of one single man of worth and intelligence ought to be more highly prized than that of the inexperienced many, whom to satisfy and please, appeared to the ancient musicians a proof of deficiency in artistic skill. Accordingly, we are told that Pericles, when he saw occasionally' that the crowds around him applauded his speech, used to fear he had made a mistake, and that he must have said either more or less than he ought to have said.9 And it is mentioned with commendation of Antimachus that, when all except Plato left him during the recitation of his long poem, he observed, 'I will go on reading all the same, for one Plato is to me worth" many thousands.' That remark of Epicurus is also12 noble and magnanimous, when writing to Metrodorus, to the effect that both of them13 must despise the judgment of the multitude, he expressed himself thus:-'We are to one another11 a sufficiently large theatre.' So, too, Cicero, when he could persuade Cato only, did not regard the opinions of others. 'Our Cato,' says he, who by himself is worth 16 a hundred thousand in my eyes.' And in another place he says of Peducæus: Only" read it to Sextus, and send me word what he thinks of it—εἷς ἐμοὶ μύριοι.

15

12

As it is certain that those Greek words are taken from some ancient writer, and yet no one, so far as I know,18 has

19

20

shown from whom, I consider it not out of place to state my opinion on the subject. I conjecture then that they are taken from Democritus, from whom Seneca quotes the following remark :-'One is in my eyes as the people, and the people as one."

[blocks in formation]

6

DEAR SIR, I remember that ten years ago letters past between us.1 At that time I was sending to the Rev. Dr. Randolph the first volume of my notes on Plutarch.2 I have since then had several reasons for discontinuing the work; one was certainly the reduction of the terms." The agreement* was that I should be paid a guinea" a sheet for the text and Latin version. Now a sheet consists of eight pages; and as the notes, indices, &c., will be printed in a smaller type, the payment was to be proportionably increased. Now the Rev. Dr. Randolph made me a new proposal in the name of the delegates of the Clarendon Press, that I should do the whole of the rest for 300 guineas, which proposal, though not quite fair, I nevertheless accepted, lest the completion of the work should any longer be put off. . . . . You shall send me a short account, in order that I may compare it with my own. As to the money due to me which the Rev. Dr. Randolph lent to private friends at five per cent., pray let it remain in their hands until I shall ask you to call it in1o and send it to me.

8

10

Yours, reverend and learned friend, most faithfully,
DANIEL WYTTENBACH.

Leyden, 6 Jan. 1815.

Exercise VIII.

On the Advantages of Manual Editions of the
Classical Authors.

THERE are two different classes of those who wish to have manual editions' (as they are called) of the classics, those whose means are limited, and those who abominate prolix commentaries; but their wish in itself is not different.

2

9

First

of all there are many teachers and students' of ancient literature, who would be glad to get all extant authors at a moderate price, in order that when they are referred to them either by other writers or in public lectures, they may not fancy themselves sent in search of a hidden treasure. I often think when I cites in the lecture room one of those ancient authors, whose works are not in every body's hands, how unpleasant and vexatious it must be when the diligent student finds himself directed to books, which, with all his desire to refer to them,10 can no more be consulted than Cratinus, Chrysippus, Theopompus, or others which have long been lost. They wish, however, to refer to them, not for the sake of the commentaries, but either to see with their own eyes and at the fountain-head, the proofs of the facts, which they have read about, or else to examine, as far as their abilities will allow, the remarks" which their teacher has made upon the subject. And to say the truth, there is nothing more advantageous to students than that they should learn betimes to trust to themselves alone in such matters, and not to depend on the assertions of others, which however they must do in most cases, especially in the case of the Greek authors, excepting the few which have been frequently published for the use of schools. But still more do we commiserate the case of so many good and industrious teachers, who are too often compelled (much against their will) to do without those authors, who are most especially necessary to them.13 For such works, even when they are still to be found1 in the lumber of some bookseller's shop, or are offered for sale at auctions, at once damp the eagerness of the purchaser by

12

their extravagant 15 price. For you know how little profit 16 there is in that trade, and how true, even now-a-days," is that saying of M. Seneca, that the teachers of grammar receive but beggarly wages. Be that as it may, both classes, -those who busy themselves with teaching and those who are employed in learning the classics,—will be best served in this department by the publication of editions, suited1 for everyday use; cheap,19 with few or no annotations, corrected according to the rules of criticism, or, if this may not be, at least accurately" reprinted from the best critical editions.

Exercise IX.

The same continued.

4

BUT besides these two, there are, if I mistake not, many other classes of our countrymen, who entertain the same wish.' For, not to speak of those who use the ancients as ornamental furniture, and buy up editions of their works for the sake of their external form and beauty, there are some, who, though given up to other pursuits and other studies, like sometimes to refer to a classical writer, either for amusement, or to verify a reference here and there, or to make a quotation. Nor are we entirely without that class of amateur scholars, who, being competently skilled in Latin and Greek, spend their whole leisure on those authors. But these, for the most part, although they are diligent students, do not read so much for the sake of acquiring laborious erudition, as for the sake of intellectual gratification,' and care little, therefore, what some particular critic may have written on a given passage. Nay, many of these would rather handle 10 the works of the ancients by themselves," undisguised by the cloaks of commentators; and especially those which are celebrated as specimens of style; just in the same way as they prefer the Apollo Belvedere1 in his simple nudity; and if they are ever obliged to have recourse to a commentator, they are not likely to be ignorant, where they may quench'

12

6

15

« PreviousContinue »