have been proposed, the best of which is that of Hermann, approved of by Erfurdt in his note on the 191st verse of the Ajax: Ξύνοικος εἴσειμ ̓ ἀλλὰ τῇδε πρὸς πύλῃ. On the whole, we conclude that the Attic precision did not allow of the admission of such short syllables for long ones, even when rendered prominent by the ictus metricus; but that, on the contrary, it confined the lengthening power of the metrical accent to that class of syllables, which, though of themselves reckoned short, are nevertheless considerably longer than the bulk of short syllables. In considering this description of syllables, we have to notice, in the first place, the case of a short vowel preceding the single consonant, particularly in two separate words, or such a compound as Tepi ρvros. This liquid, when it begins a word, is written p; and indeed a peculiar degree of force appears to have been given to it when thus situated, a force it retained in a compounded word of the above nature. And thus it was that, agreeably to the observations of Mr. Tate, a gentleman of great learning and true classical taste, and of Professor Dunbar, the syllable in question was invariably short in these, but long in arsi. Accordingly we never meet with such a tribrach as dúo péovo. Instances of the attention paid to this regulation may be seen in Soph. Ed. Tyr. 847. Ed. Col. 900. Antig. 712. Fragm. Scyriar. (iv. Brunck.), Amphiarai iv. Prom. Vinct. 771. 991. Ed. Tyr. 72: the last three passages have been already cited by Mr. Tate. It is observable that the last syllable of a spondee is seldom formed by a short vowel preceding the liquid under the circumstances detailed; a fact which can only be explained on the hypothesis that the metrical accent fell with greater force on the latter syllable of an iamb, than on that of the spondee --, the long syllable of the foot being that on which the metrical accent falls, and the position of the ictus in the spondee being regulated by its position in the principal foot of the verse. The case of a final long vowel or diphthong before a word beginning with a vowel, has been adverted to in the first chapter. By a species of elision, the long vowel or diphthong so situated loses too much of its length to stand for a long syllable, though not reduced in length to a common short one; accordingly, receiving the ictus, it must be considered long; without it, short. Many philologists are of opinion that it is precisely equivalent to a common short syllable; but this sentiment, not more probable in itself, will involve us in practical difficulties from which the other totally exempts us, difficulties that cannot be satisfactorily overcome. We allude particularly to Homeric and Virgilian poetry: to specify would be inconsistent with our present arrangement, and divert us from the subject under especial consideration. Under this view we shall conclude by observing, that this theory of a final long Vowel or diphthong, though applicable to a dactylic, anapæstic, trochaic and iambic metre, is of use chiefly in the two former; the arrangement it affects seldom if ever occurring in the trochaic and iambic systems of the Greek tragedians. Thirdly, the diphthong or in the middle of a word, followed by a long vowel or diphthong, is not made sufficiently long in pronunciation to be considered a long syllable when in thesi; but the syllable, when it receives the accent, has too much importance to occupy the place of a short one. This may be confirmed by numerous examples, of which the following are a part: Ed. Tyr. 13. Ed. Col. 262. 278. Soph. Electr. 319. 385. Prom. Vinct. 971.988. Trach. 1077. 1119. Ajac. 1375. To quote instances of the diphthong lengthened in arsi, is altogether needless. It admits however of a question, whether the rule is applicable to the diphthong or in the middle of a word, before any vowel, or only before a long vowel or another diphthong. One verse which seems to favor the former opinion has lately come to our knowlege, and others may in all probability be found ou diligent search. The verse alluded to is the 1415th of the Edipus Tyrannus of Sophocles, Οὐδεὶς οἷός τε πλήν γ' ἐμοῦ φέρειν βροτῶν· but the true reading of this line may be, Οἷός τέ γ' οὐδεὶς πλὴν ἐμοῦ φέρειν βροτῶν. Many Mss. omit the y'. It would appear that, in the pronunciation of the Attics, the diphthong of before a short vowel retained the full force of a diphthong, and thus was invariably long. But the fourth case, in which the ictus affects the quantity of syllables, is of more importance than either of the preceding. The two metrical canons of Dawes are well known to the classical world, and have ever since their appearance been the subject of critical investigation. The former relates exclusively to comic poetry; the latter is common to comic and tragic. CANON I. A short vowel either before one of the soft mutes T, K, 7, or one of the aspirates o, x, 0, followed by any liquid whatever, and before one of the medials ß, y, d, the liquid & following, invariably constitutes a short syllable. CANON II. A short vowel before one of the medial mutes ß, y, 8, followed by any liquid besides p, invariably constitutes with the following consonants a long syllable. The usages of Grecian comedy are foreign to our present subject, and to this branch of ancient poetry our observations on these canons have no reference. Porson then says, that Æschylus and Sophocles have often violated the latter canon, but that Euripides has constantly observed it: he accordingly suspects the 1021st verse of the Electra of this poet to have been corrupted by transcribers: Γυναῖκα, γλώσσῃ πικρότης ἔνεστι τις. Erfurdt defends the present lection by quoting a line of Eschylus, preserved by Photius, in which a similar usage prevails, Κέντημα γλώσσης σκορπίου βέλος λέγω. In another criticism on this canon, and it appears a later one, Porson considers it of general not universal application, and instances Ed. Tyr. 717. Electr. Soph. 440. as examples of its violation. Most probably the reading of the above verse of Euripides is correct, and the three tragedians may be viewed as equally involved in the occasional neglect of the rule in the case of yλ and BA. In the works of Sophocles, we have two instances of a short vowel preceding the consonants BA, remaining short, in addition to the two mentioned by Porson, viz. Ed. Col. 972. and a Fragment of the Amphitryo of Sophocles preserved by the scholiast in the remarks on Ed. Col. 390; and to these may be added a verse of some unknown author referred to by the scholiast, in the annotations on the 620th verse of the Antigone. Excepting the case of BA and A, no correct verse can be produced from the extant tragedies of Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, in which the second canon of Dawes is not observed.―Respecting the usage of Tragic poetry in reference to the particulars embraced by the first canon, Porson has the ensuing observations: "Although the tragedians often lengthen these syllables, properly short by position, yet they much more frequently regard them as short; so that where you meet with one instance of the former practice, nearly three of the latter will occur. That species of license, however, (viz. the lengthening of the syllable,) takes place chiefly in simple words, as Téкvov, Tarpós. Much more seldom in compounds, if the syllable in question be at the junction of the parts, as woλúxpvoos, Andr. 2. Equally rare are the instances of an augment being lengthened, as in étékλwσev, Orest. 12. kékλŋodai, Soph. Electr. 366; and still more rarely is the syllable lengthened when it is formed by the junction of a preposition to another word, as in άπóτрожо, Phoen. 600. But when a word ends with a short vowel, and the next begins with two consonants that allow of its continuing short, there is not, I believe, one uncorrupted verse, in which it is made long." These remarks are truly Porsonian, displaying the greatest talent and industry, and being, with the exception of the last period, perfectly correct: they are notwithstanding defective, inasmuch as they do not furnish the principles, on which the shortening or lengthening of the vowel situated as the canon mentions depends. The principles, however, are simple and certain, and stand connected with the clearest and most evi dent principles of poetic recitation. First, when a metrical pause is to be made after the syllable, its quantity depends on the vowel being separated from both, or joined to one only of the consonants, by the pause: Οξυστόμους γὰρ Ζηνὸς ἀκ ραγεῖς κύνας. Prom. Vinct. 828. When no pause is to be made after the syllable, the mute and liquid requiring little more exertion to be pronounced together than a single consonaut requires, owing to the nature of the liquid, which readily glides, so to speak, into the sound of the preceding consonant, the syllable in consequence ranks among those which, though longer than the generality of short syllables, have not a sufficient degree of length to be considered of themselves long syllables; and thus, in all kinds of Tragic verse, when the syllable receives the ictus metricus, it is used for a long syllable, and when it does not, for a short one. Ω τέκνα Κάδμου τοῦ πάλαι νέα τροφή. Ed. Tyr. 1. Α 'γὼ δικαιῶν μὴ παρ' ἀγγέλων τέκνα. Ibid. 6. On these principles all correction of the two following verses is unnecessary: Αἰσχρὸν παρὰ κλαίουσι θοινᾶσθαι φίλοις. Alcest. 558. Δορὶ κρατῆσαι, μήτε νοστῆσαί ποτε. Ed. Col. 1386. In iambic metre the two consonants can only be separated by the less metrical pause, which is imperceptible to the hearer unless particularly attentive to the recitation. These rules are applicable not only to the combinations of consonants mentioned in the first canon of Dawes, but likewise to ẞA and yλ. To produce verses in their support is altogether needless, as every system abounds with proofs of their correctness; whilst in the tragedies to which particularly appeal has been made, there are but three passages (exclusive of those mentioned in the first chapter) in which they are violated, and the claims of the present readings of these to correctness are of the weakest possible nature. In the second verse of the Prometheus Vinctus, the lection of the old edition is to be adopted: Σκύθην ἐς οἶμον, ἄβατον εἰς ἐρημίαν. The word äßporov introduced into the text by Porson, on the authority of Hesychius, Eustathius, the Scholia Villoisoni on Homer, and the Mss. of Suidas, was most probably a gloss on the true reading: —ον ἄβρο— cannot be admitted for a tribrach. The second of the passages referred to, is the 880th verse of the Trachiniæ, the numbers of which are any thing but Sophoclean: Τάλαιν' ὀλεθρία, τίνι τρόπῳ θανεῖν σφε φής; The true reading may be, Τάλαιν' ὀλεθρία, σὺ πῶς θανεῖν σφε φής; a reading suitable to the astonished and confounded state of the speaker's mind; and we can suppose that the word où was in the first place omitted by mistake, and that a transcriber substituted rive Tрóny from a regard to metre. The third verse, viz. Electr. Soph. 691. has been already corrected with success by Hermann. To conclude: Viewing these several theories of Tragic versification collectively, we think it not extravagant to say of them, that, consistent and probable in themselves, they are justified by every acknowleged principle of the Greek language, and confirmed by every authority that can be denominated classical; nor can the characteristic qualities of the system be better expressed, than by a repetition of the motto, "Omnino caussæ prius investigandæ sunt, quam regulæ constituendæ." DE VERSIBUS SPURIIS APUD ÆSCHYLUM DISSERTATIO. ARS critica ita exerceri a plerisque solet, ut, quoniam omnis ejus vis in judicandi sollertia expromitur, nullam ejus esse disciplinam existimare videantur. Quæ res facit, ut, dum vel sensum quisque suum vel opinionem aliquam aut consuetudinem sequitur, non ubique justa et apta medendi ratio adhibeatur. At hujus quoque artis ratio quædam est ac disciplina, quæ et modos emendandi explicat, et ubi singulis horum modorum utendum sit, præcipit, et quousque eorum usus pateat, docet. Quæ omnia quo majus sæpe in emendando momentum habent, tanto magis optandum est, ut exsistat, qui omnem hujus artis rationem accuratius, quam adhuc factum est, explanet: præsertim quum interdum etiam primarios viros in hoc genere errare videamus. Nam quum nulla emendandi ratio per se ipsa spernenda sit, tamen translata, quo non debet, vel modum, qui quoque loco tenendus est, egrediens, obsit potius, quam prosit, necesse est. Monebo, data scribendi opportunitate, juvenes litterarum studiosos de illa tantum ratione, quæ indagandis spuriis continetur: in qua quidam ita sibi placuerunt, ut vix quidquam adversus eorum suspiciones satis munitum fuerit. Sunt autem genera additamentorum, quibus scripta veterum deformata sunt, plura. Nam modo interpretationes vocabulorum,quæ glossemata vocantur, modo enarrationes sententiarum, 1 Edita est a. 1814. |