the Enigma. When the arms of a well-proportioned man are extended from the extremity of one middle finger to the extremity of the other, the whole expanse of his breadth is exactly equal to his height; and each arm is taken to be one-third of the measure, and the breast the remaining third: the height of a man therefore consists of " three ells," or three times the length of his arm. And now to consider the scope of the whole reasoning. The verses containing the Enigma may be translated thus: "Say on what spot of the earth, and thou shalt be esteemed the prince of prophets, a certain determinate measured space under the canopy of heaven distinctly appears extended in length of the exact dimensions of three ells?" The answer is; This measured space is that on which is visibly and correctly described, "The figure of a man by his shadow." And in this image, whether seen lengthened at sun-rise or sunset, or diminished at mid-day; whether it be reflected as of the dimensions of two feet or twenty feet; the length of the arm will always bear an unequivocal proportion to the length of the whole represented body. And the Ænigma is peculiarly appropriate in the mouth of Damætas; for the Roman shepherds were accustomed to calculate the time of day by the length of the shadow; as in the first Eclogue, vs. 84: Et jam summa procul villarum culmina fumant, And again in the second Eclogue, vs. 66.: Aspice; aratra jugo referunt suspensa juvenci, And Horace notes this circumstance much in the same manner: Sol ubi montium Mutaret umbras, et juga demeret We may also suppose, that at the conclusion of the amobæan contest, the evening was approaching, and Damotas proposed his well-timed Ænigma, at the instant he was contemplating the shadowed image of his own person. ROBERT HOBLYN, M. A. late Student of Christ Church, Oxford. 344 MISCELLANEA CLASSICA. No. VII. I. HERODOTUS, speaking of a report current in his time respecting a supposed connexion between the republic of Argos and the court of Persia, concludes (vii. 152.): ἐπίσταμαι δὲ τοσοῦτο, ὅτι εἰ πάντες ἄνθρωποι τὰ οἰκήϊα κακὰ ἐς μέσον συνενείκαιεν, ἀλλάξασθαι βου λύμενοι τοῖσι πλησίοισι, ἐγκύψαντες ἂν ἐς τὰ τῶν πέλας κακά, ἀσπασίως ἕκαστοι αὐτέων ἀποφεραίατο ὀπίσω τὰ ἐσενείκαντο. This passage, or perhaps some other version of the same sentiment, appears to have furnished the original hint for that vision in the Spectator, (Nos, 558 and 559,) in which the whole race of humankind are represented as assembled together on a vast plain, for the purpose of collecting the various troubles and inconveniences which affect them severally, into one heap, from which each afterwards selects, by way of exchange, some other grievance, which appears to him more easy to be endured: the whole multitude, however, as soon as the change is effected, in utter dissatisfaction with their bargains, implore Jupiter for the restoration of their old and legitimate grievances, to which he graciously consents. The only difference is, that the Kakà of Herodotus are moral, not physical or external evils. Schweighæuser indeed says plausibly: "Suspicatus equidem eram ex prisci alicujus Sapientis dicto sententiam hanc mutuatum esse Herodotum, et ita in usum suum convertisse, ut, quod ille de fortunæ casibus et calamitatibus dixisset, quibus obnoxii sunt mortales, ad mala moralia, ad prava atque turpia facta hominum, transferret." II. Suetonius, speaking of Cæsar's descent on Africa, in the prosecution of the campaign against Juba and Scipio, says: "Prolapsusin egressu navis, verso in melius omine, Teneo te,' inquit, 'Africa.' Jul. 59. So likewise Dion, lib. xlii. p. 212. ed. Leunclav. exßárri dè αὐτῷ τῆς νεὼς συντυχία τοιάδε ἐγένετο, ὑφ ̓ ἧς εἰ καί τι φοβερὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ δημοσίου σφίσιν ἐσημαίνετο, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτό γε ἐκεῖνο ἐς ἀγαθὸν ἔτρεψεν. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἅμα τῷ τῆς γῆς ἐπιβῆναι, προσέπταισε, καὶ αὐτὸν πεσόντα ἐπὶ στόμα οἱ στρατιῶται ἰδόντες ἠθύμησαν, καὶ δυσανασχετήσαντες ἐθοράβησαν (ἐθορυβήθησαν ?), οὐ διηπορήθη, ἀλλ' ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα, τήν τε γῆν, ὡς καὶ ἑκὼν δὴ πεσών, περιέλαβε καὶ κατεφίλησε· καὶ ἀναβοή σας εἶπεν, Ἔχω σε, ̓Αφρική. Our own history offers a curious parallel to this incident. In the landing of the Normans at Hastings, immediately preceding the great battle which decided the fate of England, Duke William stumbled in alighting from his ship, which a soldier standing by converted into a good omen, saying, 'Oh, duke, soon to be king, you now take possession of England." Extracts from the history of Matthew Paris, translated in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, vol. v. p. 260. Perhaps the well-known artifice, by which the elder Brutus turned the respouse of the Delphic oracle to his own advantage, was in Cæsar's mind on this occasion. III. Æschylus, in the description of Capaneus, says: Θεοῦ τε γὰρ θέλοντος ἐκπέρσειν πόλιν, καὶ μὴ θέλοντός φησιν, οὐδὲ τὴν Διὸς ἔριν πέδῳ σκήψασαν ἐκποδὼν σχεθεῖν. Theb. 429. Perhaps the poet had in his mind an incident in the eighth Iliad : Και νυ κε σήκασθεν κατὰ Ἴλιον, ήΰτε ἄρνες, εἰ μὴ ἄρ' ὀξὺ νόησε πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε, θεῶν τε βροντήσας δ' ἄρα δεινὸν, ἀφῆκ' ἀργῆτα κεραυνὸν, καδδὲ πρόσθ ̓ ἵππων Διομήδεος ἧκε χαμάζε τὰ δ ̓ ἵππω δείσαντε καταπτήτην ὑπ' ὄχεσφιν κ. τ. λ. Π. Θ. 131. IV. The method of consulting the oracle of Faunus, described in Virg. Æn. VII. 1. 81. et seqq. bears a considerable resemblance to the mode of augury attributed to the ancient Highlanders in Scott's Lady of the Lake, Canto IV. and notes. The passages are too long for extraction. V. To the instances of metrical lines in ancient prose writers, alleged in former numbers of the Misc. Class. add the following: Thuc. iv. 107. τὸν ποταμὸν πολλοῖς πλοίοις ἄφνω καταπλεύσας 109. ἔχει Σάμην μὲν, ̓Ανδρίων ἀποικίαν ν. 72. ἄλλῳ στρατοπέδῳ, καὶ μάλιστα τῷ μέσῳ vii. 34. αὐτοὺς ἑκατέρους ἀξιοῦν νικᾷν, ὅμως Liv. iv.. 57. Moenia compulsis, nec defendentibus agros. VI. Blomfield, in his Glossary on Asch. Prom. 409, ν. 'Αμέγαρτα, enumerates two meanings of ἀμέγαρτος, viz. “ immisericors,” and "haud invidendus." To these might perhaps have been added a third, namely, "copiosus," non parce vel invidenter tributus," as in Hom. Il. Β. 420, Αλλ' όγε δέκτο μὲν ἱρα, πόνον δ' ἀμέγαρτον ὄφελλεν' and in Od. Λ. 406, Όρσας αργαλέων ἀνέμων ἀμέγαρτον ἀϋτμήν· corresponding to the signification of the verb μεγαίρειν in Homer. 39 66 VII. In a former number of the Misc. Class. mention was made of an argument adduced in proof of 'Ατρείδης, Πηλείδης, and similar names in Homer, being dissyllables, from the circumstance of their never being so situated in any verse, as to form the latter half of the third foot, and the whole of the fourth. It was also observed, that this argument had been attempted to be obviated by the remark that Homer seldom places any word whatever, consisting of three long syllables, in such a situation. In proof of the latter observation, the following instances, which are the only ones I have been able to discover in the two poems of Homer, may be subjoined: ILIAD. ὣς τῶν πᾶσ ̓ ἀγορὴ κινήθη· τοὶ δ' ἀλαλητῷ Β. 149. ὣς ἰθὺς Λυκίων, Πατρόκλεις ἱπποκέλευθε Π. 584. ὣς ἐπὶ Κεβριόνῃ, Πατρόκλεις, άλσο μεμαώς. Π. 754. νήπιος· οὐδέ τί οἱ χραισμήσει λυγρὸν ὄλεθρον Υ. 296. ODYSSEY. ἱστὸν ἐποιχομένη, χρυσείη κερκίδ ̓ ὕφαινεν Ε. 62. ἦλθε δ' ἐπὶ ψυχὴ Θηβαίου Τειρεσίας Λ. 90. ψυχῇ χρησόμενον Θηβαίου Τειρεσίας Λ. 164. μάντιος ἀλαοῦ, Θηβαίου Τειρεσίαο Μ. 267. ἠέ τινα τριπόδων εὐχάλκων, ἠὲ λεβήτων Ο. 83. τοῦ δ' υἱεῖς ἐγένοντ' Αλκμαίων ̓Αμφίλοχός τε O. 248. τὰ δ ̓ ἐν Μεσσήνῃ ξυμβλήτην ἀλλήλουν Φ. 15. ψυχῇ χρησόμενος Θηβαίου Τειρεσίας Ψ. 323. Of the above instances, forty in number, (the two suspected ones not being included,) it may be observed, that twenty-one are formed by proper names; that eight are produced by the word Пlarpókλeis, followed in all the instances by a vowel, from which it may appear not improbable that the poet really wrote Пarpokλeès; that in Il. I. 11. κικλήσκεμεν might be substituted for κικλήσκειν without violating the metre, and possibly with some advantage to the flow of the verse; and that the same might be predicated of ἐϋχάλκων, for εὐχάλκων, in Od. O. 83; that two of the instances are formed by the word kavOTEIρūs, four by ευρείης, six by Θηβαίου, three by υσμίνῃ or υσμίνης, and two by Πατρόκλου, besides eight by Πατρόκλεις, mentioned above; that in three of the cases (to which the two doubtful ones may be added) the word which causes the peculiarity is followed by re; that in seven books of the Iliad, and sixteen of the Odyssey, no instance of the kind occurs; that thirteen of the examples occur in one single book of the Iliad, the sixteenth; and that nine only are to be found in the Odyssey, five of which are produced by the recurrence of the same half line. VIII. In the twenty-second book of Livy, Æmilius Paullus says, in reference to the approaching campaign, "Optare (se) ut omnia prospere evenirent: at, si quid adversi caderet, hostium se telis potius, quam suffragiis iratorum civium, caput objecturum." Cap. 40. This is evidently borrowed from the speech of Nicias, in a situation not quite dissimilar, Thuc. vii. 48. οὔκουν βούλεσθαι (ἔφη) αὐτός γε, ἐπιστάμενος τὰς ̓Αθηναίων φύσεις, ἐπ' αἰσχρᾷ τε αἰτίᾳ καὶ ἀδίκως ὑπ ̓ Αθηναίων ἀπολέσθαι μᾶλλον, ἢ ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων, εἰ δεῖ, κινδυνεύσας τοῦτο παθεῖν idia. The above imitation was pointed out by a friend. IX. "Qui modum igitur vitio quærit, similiter facit, ut si posse putet eum, qui se e Leucata præcipitaverit, sustinere se cum velit." Cic. Tusc. Disp. iv. 18. This was perhaps the origin of Dr. Johnson's observation concerning the royal congé d'élire. It may here also be remarked, that when Voltaire represented himself as "collecting gold from the immense dunghill of Shakspeare," he imitated Virgil, who, according to the Life ascribed to Donatus, said the same thing of Ennius. X. Lord Byron, (Childe Harold, Canto I. St. lxxiii.) speaking of the heroes of Thermopylæ, says: Oh! who that gallant spirit shall resume, Leap from Eurotas' bank, and call thee (Greece) from the tomb? Can any of your readers explain the allusion? |