It is long, Atticè :
SOPHOCL. Antig. 64. Καὶ του ἀκούειν, κάτι τωνδ' ΑΛΓΙΝΑ,
The quantity is doubtful in ÆSCH. Prom. 933. EURIP.
Hipp. 490. Med. 238. which is cited in Stob. Grot. Tit.
LXXIII. p. 303. and in the Prologue to Rhesus, first published
by Valckenaer, Diatr. 99. Εμὸς γὰρ ουδεν ἐστιν ἄλγιου βάρος-

ΒΑΘΙΩΝ.

This comparative does not occur in the Attic poets. The penultimate is short in Theocritus, E. 43.

Με βάθιον τήνω πυγισμαῖος ὑδὲ ταφίνης,

BEATION.

The penultimate is short in the only passage of Homer in which this comparative occurs: Od. P. 18.

Πτωχῷ βελτίον ἐστι κατὰ πόλιν, δὲ καὶ ἀγρούς.

where the true reading is Bixlepov, which is found in six verses
of the Iliad, and in one of the Odyssey, and in two of the
Hymn to Mercury, according to Seber's index. Eustathius, as
Clarke's note well observes, gives Bixlepov in his Commentary;
which Thomas Bentley found also in several MSS.
therefore, surprising that Wolfius should have omitted so ob-
It is,
vious and necessary a restoration as Bixlepov, in his recently
published Odyssey.

Hesiod also uses Bexlepos instead of Beλlíwv. Op. et D. 365.
Οικοι Βέλτερον είναι, ἐπεὶ Βλαβερὸν τὸ θύρηφι.

*

So Apollon. Rhod. I. 254. II. 338. III. 507. IV. 1255.
As to the Attic poets, in Eschylus Beatív never occurs.
He follows Homer and Hesiod in the use of Balepos.

S. Theb. 337.

Suppl. 1066.

Βέλτερα τῶνδε πράσσειν.
Και κράτος νέμοι γυναι
Είν' το Βέλζερον κακοῦ.

He also employs Bélalos as a superlative, Eumen. 489. Suppl. 1052. in the last Chorus †, though he uses Bellos in a Chorus of the Agamemnon, 397

Instances of Bexliv, however, with the penultimate long,
occur frequently in the Dramatic writers after Eschylus.
EURIP. Andromach. 727. Ταλλ ̓ ὄντες ἴστε μηδενός ΒΕΛΤΙΟΝΕΣ.
Ion. 424. Εις παιδα τὸν σὸν μεταπέσοι ΒΕΛΤΙΟΝΑ...
Meleag. Ix. ap. Stob. Tit. LXX. p. 70. et Clem. Alex. II.

*A passage in one of his fragments shall be examined in the course of this disquisition...

A new regulation in the Metres of this Chorus was proposed in the Monthly Review for January 1798, Article, Butler:

Gg3

p. 520.

p. 620 *. 3. ΒΕΛΤΙΟΝ ̓ ἂν τεκοιμι σώμασιν † τέκνα, and V. 5. Σκληρώς διάλας οι γόνοι ΒΕΛΤΙΟΝΕΣ.

So INCERTUS apud Stob. Grot. Flor. I. p. 5. SOPHOCLES Fragm. Incert. C. ap. Brunck. apud Stob. MS. Ruhnkenii V. 5. ARISTOPHANES, Plut. 105. 558. 576. 595. Equit. 857. Pac. 448. Nub. 1050. Eccles. 214. 475. Acharn. 650. 1077. Ran. 1009. Thesm. 800. 810.

BEXiv, in passages in which the quantity cannot be determined:

EURIPID. Orest. 1147. 'Αλλ' ἀπολιπών του, ἐπὶ τὸ ΒΕΛΤΙΟΝ Toy. So Hippol. 294.-Alcest. 1179.-Iph. Aul. 1017.Helen. 1o57. in Troch. ΘΕΟ. Ου σε ταμὰ χρὴ δικάζειν. ΧΟ. "Hv yε BEXTía λéyw.-Electr. 1068.-Erecth. fragm. I. 6.

γε

ARISTOPH. Plut. 1149. Nub. 589 594. Thesm. 774. MENANDER. Oto Pops. ap. Stob. Gr. III. p. 8o. Cler. INCERTUS in Grotii Excerpt. p. 949. which verse is assigned to Menander, by Morel, Sentent. Vet. Comicorum, p. 24. Συμβουλος ουδεις ἐστι βελτίων Χρόνου,

where, however, he gives ioliv dudeís, which destroys the verse. APOLLODORUS παισι, ap. Stob. Grot. p. 461.

In order to render the Canon respecting the produced quantity of this comparative adjective universal, the following passages require correction. SCHYLUS apud Athen. IX. p. 375. E.

Τί γὰρ

*οψον γένοι ̓ ἄν ἀνδρὶ τοῦδε ΒΕΛΤΙΟΝ.

The change into BEATEPON, after the observations which have been made, is sufficiently obvious. It is demanded, indeed, in order to render the style of the fragment Eschylean, as well as to restore the metre. Toup has quoted this passage in his Emendat. in Suid. Part. V. Vol. III. P. 75. but reads Belov, firmly, and without apparent suspicion of an error. MENANDER, apud Stob. Grot. cxxII. p. 497.

*Αν πρῶτος ἀπέλθης, καταλύσεις σὺ βίλλιον
Ἐφιδι ̓ ἔχων ἀπῆλθες, ἐχθρὸς ουδενί.

These verses form part of a fragment, which has frequently exercised the talents of the critics; and which Heringa has properly separated from the preceding seven lines, in his Observ. Critica, xxix. p. 255. We must confine ourselves to these two only, on the present occasion.

In the first place, Av should be 'Hv, which is 'Er av; for the Attic poets never use av for . Next, we should prefer #gwr' to gulos, in order to preserve the Iambus.-As to the short

* Clemens only cites the latter instances.
† Sic pro dual Musgrav.

pe

nultimate

nultimate of Bixlov, that must be attributed to Salmasius, whose emendation Grotius inserted in his text, instead of · καταλύσεις βελτίονα : which is the lection of the six editions of Stobæus, by which his was preceded. Joannes Clericus contentedly gave what he found: not so PHILELEUTHERUS LIPSIENSIS. He observes in his Emendationes, that the third syllable of Kalahús must be long but he had not discovered that the second of Bov could not be short. His lambic, therefore, is not much better than that of Salmasius:

Αν πρῶτος ἐξέλθῃς, καταλύσεις βέλτιον.

In this, it must be granted, there is only a Spondeus in sexta, though in the other that foot appears in quarta et in sexta sede. In order to obtain the true reading of the passage, we venture to propose a very slight alteration;-the change of an Icta into an Omega, that is, of xalaaurus, the verb, into xalanuoɛws, the substantive; which will restore sense and metre to the whole : Ην πρῶτ ̓ ἀπέλθης καταλύσεως, βελτίονα Ἐφίδι ̓ ἔχων απἦλθες, εχθρὸς ουδενί.

This fragment is in a great measure borrowed from the TaperTvo of Alexis, the relation of Menander; and whose works, Mr. Cumberland* with justice thinks, the younger poet must have studied as his model.

The passage is preserved by Athenæus, XI. 463. B. and we are sorry that the want of room prevents our placing the verses of the Uncle and of the Nephew in one view before the reader: who might observe, by a comparison, the prominence of that moral cast of thought, which so eminently distinguished the writings of Menander.

The metre and usage of the word xalahuris, Diversorium, are defended by Euripides, Electr. 396.

Δεξώμεθ ̓ ὅικων καταλύσεις· Χωρεῖν Χρεών.

Edit. Aldi. Casaubon in

accipiamus ædium diversoria, [Musgrave] says the unknown
Orestes to Electra; and by Alexis in the beginning of a frag-
ment preserved by Athenæus, IA'. p. 105. 29.
̓Απήνλων τῷ ξένῳ εἰς τὴν καταλυσινησύνην αίθων ανήρ.
his edition, xi. 502. F. (Animadv. p. 820.) and Grotius in
his Excerpt. p. 557. offer different conjectures. To them we
cannot now attend: the former is not right, and the latter is
unsatisfactory but about the word zalános there seems little
reason for hesitation. Macho also uses the word in a fragment
likewise cited by Athenæus, VIII. 337-

Ελθών, κατάλυσιν ἐνδαμου μισθωσίμην
Δυνάμενος ευρείν.

* Observer, No. 100. p.
Gg 4

66.

In

In the fifth line of this passage, instead of 'Idwv T'exiðvovla— read : Ἰδών τ' ἐκεῖ θύοντα τὸν νεωκόρον. Casaubon's επείλα θύοντα destroys the metre. The first syllable of Ouw is always long, Attice. The Megarensian uses it short, according to his Dialect, in Aristophanes, Acharn. 792.

Κάλλιστός ἐστι χειρος ̓Αφροδίτα θύειν.

but Dicæopolis, in the next verse, Atheniensium more: *Αλλ' οὐχὶ χοῖρος τῇ Φροδίτῃ θύεται.

In Euripides, Electr. 1148. we find,

Θύσεις γάρ, δια χρή σε δαίμοσιν θύειν.

The Spondeus in sexto loco must be removed by a transpo

sition :

Θύσεις γάρ, οἷα χρή σε θυειν δαίμοσιν.

as we observed in the Review of the learned Dr. Huntingford's apology for his Monostrophics, M. R. Aug. 1785, p. 120. Τὰς καλαύσεις ποιεῖσθαι also occurs in Diodorus Siculus, II. 113. 94. Thucydides, indeed, I. 18. p. 15. 60. applies it differently: T Tipaver; and again VIII. 18. p. 5.16. 85. κατάλυσις τοῦ πολέμου. Euripides himself, in a fragment of his Melanippe, IX ap. Stob. LXX. speaking against marrying rich women, adds: αι γαρ διαλύσεις οὐ ῥαδιαι.

ΒΡΑΔΙΩΝ.

This comparative, like Taxiv, has been condemned by the Grammarians, and by Lucian: Pseudolog. III.573 where Grævius's note may be consulted. The word does not occur in the Dramatic writers. The penultimate is short in Hesiod: Op. &D. 528.

Στρωφίλαι, ΒΡΑΔΙΟΝ δὲ πανελλήνεσσι φαείνει.

ΓΛΥΚΙΩΝ.

The penultimate is short, Ionicè & Dorice:

Hom. II. A. 249. Τοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ γλώσσης μ λλος ΓΛΥΚΙΩΝ ῥέεν ουδί.

So Theocrit. IA'. 37. Apoll. Rh. III. 8:5. Moschus, B. 3. This comparative adjective is found in one passage only of the remains of the Athenian stage:

SOPHOCLES Phil. 1461. Νῦν δ ̓, ὦ κρῆναι, ΓΛΥΚΙΟΝ τε ποιόν. in which Anapestic verse the penultimate is short, in opposition to the Canon. Twes, observes the Scholiast, read AvxOV, which stands on the margin of the Brubachian edition of 1544. Brunck is silent.-The true reading is probably, Tauxepov, as Eurip. Med. 1106. Ténvwv yavne pov Bráolmμa-Aristophanes uses the word, Lysistr. 971. and Thesm. [Scythice] 1192.

The

The comparative Γλυκίων, and the superlative Γλύκιστος, we are inclined to believe, were not in use among the Attic poets. TAURUTEρOS is found in the Aves of Aristophanes, V.1342; and Taunuτalos appears, in Euripid. Or. 159. Cycl. 126, and frequently in Aristophanes, as, Ran. 311. Acharn. 475. Pax. 526. Eccl. 124. 241. 1046. &c.

ΕΧΘΙΩΝ.

No example of 'Ex in Hexameters occurs to our recollection. The penultimate is short in the tragedies.

ÆscHYLUS. Suppl. 507. Αλλ' ή δρακόντων δυσφρόνων ΕΧΘΙΌΣΙΝ. EURIP. Troad. 1066. Τὸ μῶρον αὐτῶν, κἂν ἐτ ̓ ὦσ ̓ ΕΧΘΙΟΝΕΣ, SOPH. ED. Tyr. 272. Τῷ νῦν φθερεισθαι, κάτι τεδ ̓ ΕΧΘΙΌΝΙ, So in Philoct. 683. in a chorus, ARISTOPHANES affords no example to defend the rule.

The quantity of the penultimate is doubtful in Eschylus, Pers. 438. Eurip. Electr 222. Sophocles, Ajax. 1954. Antigon. 86. "Οι μοι· καλάνδα πολλὲν ἐχθίων ἔσει, where the Ionic πολλὸν ought probably to be changed into μᾶλλον. * Electr. 1047. Βαλῆς γάρ ἐστιν ουδὲν ἔχθιον κακῆς. which verse of Sophocles Musgrave has placed as the ninth uncertain fragment of Euripides. The margin of Grotius's Stobus, Tit. IV. p. 23. misled him, where the line is cited as the production of the latter poet. To these five instances, add also Soph. Electr. 1189. Aristophanes, Aves, 370.

From the supposition, however, that the Attic poets considered the penultimate of these comparatives in 12N as common syllables, a slight corruption has taken place in a fragment of Epicrates, which may be readily restored.

EPICRATES, v Avоπрάτw, apud Athen. VI. p. 91. 41. Edit. Ald. Princ.

Ἐπικράτης δ ̓ ἐν Δυσπράτῳ ἀγανακτούντα ποιει τινὰ τῶν δικελῶν,

καὶ λέγοντα

Τί γὰρ ἔχθιον ἢ πᾶι, πᾶι, καλείσθαι παρὰ πότον.

So the verse also appears in the second or Basil edition; and in those of Casaubon, p.262. D.-Grotius in his Excerpt. p. 669. has likewise thus exhibited this portentous Iambic, with an Anapest and Cretic to form the first Dipodia. The metre is easily recovered. Read:

Ἔχθιον, ἢ πᾶι, πᾶι, καλείσθαι παρὰ πότον.

*This correction was proposed some years ago, by one of the first scholars in this country. The writer may say-Illum absens `absentem auditq, videtque!

ΙΔΙΩΝ.