296 MISCELLANEA CLASSICA. I. MR. MITFORD says that " our two sounds of TH, familiar to the Greeks at the farther corner of Europe, who express them by their → and 8, are unknown, and scarcely to be pronounced by any other European people." I have been informed by a native of Denmark, that the former is known to the Icelanders. (vol. i. p. 145.) II. He endeavours to prove, from the situation of places, and the effects of the storm which attacked the fleet of Xerxes at the promontory of Sepias, that it was not the east wind, but the north-east. An additional argument may be drawn from the circumstance, that the Athenians imagined this tempest to be a fulfilment of their prayers to the north wind, which they had made by the direction of an oracle, (vol. ii. p. 143.) III. "The Platæans, an inland people, unacquainted with naval affairs, but zealously attached to Athens, served with their best ability in the Athenian fleet." Thus, in Homer, an inland tribe embark for the Trojan expedition in ships given them by Agamemnon-énei οὔ σφι θαλάσσια έργὰ μεμήλει. (vol. ii. p. 157.) IV. He thinks there is strong reason to suspect, that not Alcibiades, but his enemies, were the mutilators of the Mercuries; that they "committed the deed in secret, with the hope of fixing the suspicion upon him." We may add, that it might be also in their view to discourage the Sicilian expedition, by an unlucky omen. (vol. iv. p. 43.) V. He has mentioned, as an instance of patriotism extended to the whole Greek nation, and not confined to a particular state, that Agis king of Lacedæmon would not take Elis when it was in his power. Perhaps this may rather be ascribed to his reverence for the sanctity of the place. Besides, his commission was only to chastise (owppóvioa) the Eleans; which might be done by the conquest and ravage of their country alone, without attempting Elis. (vol. vi. p. 149.) VI. Speaking of the reinforcement sent to the Lacedæmonian army after the defeat at Leuctra, he says, "The account, given by Diodorus, of the junction of the force under Archidamus with the retreating army, and of their separation afterwards for shame, is among the stories in his work beneath serious criticism." Yet he has himself related, that the army of Alcibiades, in the Asiatic war which followed the defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, when joined at Sestos by the troops under Thrasyllus, who had been defeated at Ephesus, refused to associate with them, till a following victory, in which both had their share, wiped off the disgrace. He gives this on Xenophon's authority, without expressing any doubt. Diodorus is certainly not to be placed against Xenophon in the scale; but the fact does not seem very improbable, particularly since the Lacedæmonians were more tenacious of their military honor than the Athenians, or any other Greeks; and the fate of Pautites and Aristodemus in the Persian war, and the q'isgrace imposed upon the garrison of Sphacteria, who, after a desperate resistance, had, not without authority from the Lacedæmonian commander in the neighbourhood, surrendered, may be adduced as specimens of the rigor to which this principle was carried in practice. (vol. vi. p. 212: 4. p. 299, 300.) VII. Speaking of Hermocrates the Syracusan, he says, "writers of all parties have borne testimony to his merit, and not one has imputed to him an evil action." Yet, in noticing the various accounts of the cause of the execution of Nicias and Demosthenes, he observes, "The party politics of after times led the Sicilian historian Timæus to calumniate Hermocrates." (vol. vii. p. 20: iv. p. 160.) VIII. "At Athens, at Corinth, at Argos, every where in Proper Greece, the democratical party always desired to make the state a maritime power. The oligarchal party, on the contrary, and tyrants, unless the tyrant were a demagogue, endeavoured to withhold their people from maritime affairs." Without impeaching the general justice of this latter remark, or the truth of that concerning the long walls, it may be observed, that Corinth, in the most flourishing times of its naval power, was, for the most part, governed by an aristocracy. (vol. vii. p. 72.) IX. "The Thracian monarchs drew from their lands a revenue of thirty talents yearly, and from their trade three hundred; making together not less than six hundred thousand pounds sterling." Read rather sixty thousand. 1 (vol. vii. p. 368.) I X." The king, Archidamus, being the principal mover, a plan was put forward, not unworthy of his character for wisdom, moderation, and liberality." He then proceeds to detail the particulars of the project. In opposition to this commendation, we may remark, that all the articles were calculated to serve the interest of Lacedæmon; which renders the excellence of the Lacedæmonian motives doubtful. Thebes, the enemy of Lacedæmon, was to resign the town and territory of Oropus, which were to be restored to Athens, its confederate: Orchomenus and Platæa, which had essentially assisted to keep the balance in Boeotia against Thebes, were to be delivered to their people who had been expelled by the Thebans: Tricenum was to be taken from the Argives, the old rivals of Lacedæmon, and restored to its faithful allies the Phliasians: "a part of Triphylia, apparently that conquered by the Arcadians," (at this time for the most part hostilely disposed to Lacedæmon) was to return under the dominion of the Eleians, their confederates: the democratical government of Megalopolis, obnoxious to Sparta, was to be abolished: and Messenia was to be recovered." (vol. viii. p. 125, 126.) XI. "As land was what a Thracian prince could perhaps of all things most cheaply give, he offered it in any quantity." This, and other similar offers, may remind us of the American grants of waste land to new citizens. (vol. v. p. 318.) XII. Herodotus thus relates the stratagem by which Histiæus con £74,250. at the highest calculation. Ed. veyed to Aristagoras his injunction to excite a rebellion in Ionia: ¿ δὲ, τῶν δούλων τὸν πιστότατον ἀποξυρήσας τὴν κεφαλὴν, ἔστιξε, καὶ ἀνέμεινε ἀναφῆναι τὰς τρίχας· ὡς δὲ ἀνέφυσαν τάχιστα, ἀπέπεμπε ἐς Μίλησ τον, ἐντειλάμενος αὐτῷ ἄλλο μὲν οὐδέν· ἐπεὰν δὲ ἀπίκηται ἐς Μίλητον, κελεύειν ̓Αρισταγόραν ξυρήσαντά μιν τὰς τρίχας, κατιδέσθαι ἐς τὴν κεφα λήν· τὰ δὲ στίγματα ἐσήμαινε, ὡς καὶ πρότερόν μοι εἴρηται, ἀπόστασιν. V. 35. The same method was used by a chief in alliance with Jenghiz-Khan, to convey a message to him in time of war. XIII. He relates, in his account of Egypt, that the harbour of Naucratis was in old times the only one at which vessels were allowed to put in; and if any ship, by stress of weather, was forced to another port, it was obliged to sail from thence to the Canobian, or harbour of Naucratis. A similar regulation prevails at Japan. A shattered vessel, which was driven by circumstances to take refuge in one of the forbidden ports, was, in conformity to the letter of the law, drawn along the coast by means of ropes fastened to her from the shore, for some hundred miles, with great labour, till she arrived in the principal harbour, full of water, and no longer fit for service. XIV. The contrivance of Tarquin the Proud, in Livy, to signify his opinion concerning the measures to be pursued by Sextus at Gabii, is related by Herodotus of Thrasybulus tyrant of Miletus, who gave similar counsel and in the same manner to Periander of Corinth; except that the poppies in Livy, (I. 54.) are ears of corn in Herodotus (V. 92.) The story perhaps passed as a family tradition to Tarquin, who was of the race of the Bacchiadæ, the principal objects of destruction and expulsion to Periander and his father Cypselus. XV. Pericles, in Thucydides, expresses an apprehension that the Lacedæmonians may spare his lands; and, to clear himself of all suspicion in such case, he resigns them as public property. In the war of Gustavus Vasa with the Danes, the former studiously spared the estates of Archbishop Trolle, in order to render him suspected XVI. Professor Monk, in his note on the 50th line of the Alcestis, where Apollo, addressing Oávaros, tells him he has no great hopes of persuading him τοῖς μέλλουσι ΘΑΝΑΤΟΝ ἐμβαλεῖν, quotes several similar passages, suggested to him by Mr. Tate; and among others one from Milton. We may add an iustance from Pope's Dunciad, Book IV., where speaking of Dullness, he says: O Muse! relate --for you can tell alone, Wits have short memories, and duuces none- And one from Campbell's Pleasures of Hope, Part II. where Hope is thus addressed : Inspiring thought of rapture yet to be, The tears of love were hopeless, but for thee! XVII. There is a circumstance in the Iliad, displaying Homer's knowledge of human nature, which I have not seen commented on. When Achilles has resolved to quit the service and return home to enjoy himself in peace, he finds plausible arguments in support of his resolution already made: Ou yap éμoì ↓vxñs ȧvrátior, &c. and again, Aioroι μèv yap re Bóes, &c. But when on the occasion of the death of Patroclus, he determines to meet his predestined death, so as he may himself on Hector, he recollects that all men are doomed to die that Hercules himself could not escape, though favoured by Jupiter-that many Greeks, slain in battle, demand revenge from his hand-and similar arguments. This agrees with the well-known facility with which men find reasons, when they have formed their resolution. revenge XVIII. It appears to me that the word av0éw may have originally been ȧvaléw, ' to run or shoot up;' and that avoòs, instead of being the original word, was the derivative. 'Avarpéxw is used by Homer in the sense of growing as a plant: ὁ δ ̓ ἀνέδραμεν ἔρνεϊ ἶσος. Ι. Σ. XIX. Mr. Mitford is inclined to think that Dionysius the elder was never entitled king of Syracuse or Sicily, and that he was only a prime minister and popular leader. To this idea I will venture to oppose a passage of Bentley, (Diss. on Phal. art. Phintienses) "I am entirely of Paruta's opinion, who interprets it of king Phintias. For is not Bariλéws Divría in the genitive case, exactly like those other inscriptions-ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΥ, ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΙΕΡΩΝΥΜΟΥ, ΑΓΑΘΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ?-Besides, the very word ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ shows, it belongs not to Gelo. For in his and his brother Hiero's coins the word is not used; Dionysius, as it seems, being the first Sicilian that styled himself Bartλevs in his money." He refers to coins, or engravings of coins, of Dionysius, still in existence. XX, The same historian is strong in his censures of the Theban constitution. Yet we have the testimony of Socrates to its merits, Plat. Crit. XV. ἐὰν εἰς τῶν ἐγγύτατά τινα πόλεων ἔλθῃς, ἢ Θήβαζε, ἢ Με γάραδε, εὐνομοῦνται γὰρ ἀμφότεραι, κ. τ. λ. And the testimony of Plato, if we may consider him as sanctioning this opinion, is elsewhere extolled by Mitford. (vol. i. p. 445. chap. v. sect. 5.) "The character of Hipparchus has been transmitted to us, on no less authority than that of Plato, as one of the most perfect in history." XXI. To the testimony above adduced in favor of the opinion that Thebes was a well-regulated state, I will add that of Sophocles, d. Col. 919. where, after having reproached Creon with a breach of law and justice, Theseus continues: καί τοί σε Θῆβαί γ' οὐκ ἐπαίδευσαν κακόν. οὐ γὰρ φιλοῦσιν ἄνδρας ἐκδίκους τρέφειν. "It was not οὐδ ̓ ἄν σ ̓ ἐπαινέσειαν, εἰ πυθοίατο, κ. τ. λ. The annexed ye adds a degree of point to the praise. Thebes that taught thee this injustice." And it may be observed, that this play was produced near the end of the Peloponnesian war, when the Thebans were animated with perhaps more hatred towards Athens than the Lacedæmonians themselves. (Xen. Hel. Lib. II. c. ii. 19.) |