NOTICE OF

A SKETCH OF MODERN AND ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS, BY THE REV. S. BUTLER, D. D. HEADMASTER OF THE ROYAL FREE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL OF SHREWSBURY. 1813. 8vo. pp. 246. Pr. 8s. 6d.

We are rejoiced to hear that this excellent little work has been

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already adopted in some large Schools, and we doubt not that the example will be followed by other respectable seminaries; for, as Dr. Butler observes in his Preface, "Every person employed like himself in the classical education of youth, must be sensible how deplorably a book of this nature was wanted." In the second part, the learned Doctor has given a short view of ancient geography, and has thus supplied a desideratum in public schools. He has "endeavoured to make a dry catalogue of names interesting and useful by the application of history, chronology, and poetry." He has himself been cautious to examine the historical facts in the original authors, and to ascertain the chronological dates by reference to the best accessible authorities." He has added two copious and separate indexes to each part." "For the groundwork of the first part he has chosen the maps and text of Pinkerton, for that of the second part those of D'Anville." "With a view to render this little publication more generally useful, he has prefixed a few of the most remarkable events in the Sacred, Grecian, and Roman history, copied from Dr. Blair's Chronology. They are for the most part the same with those prefixed to Dr. Lempriere's universally known and esteemed work, The Classical Dictionary, but with many omissions; as he conceived it essential to avoid increasing the size of his book, and wished principally to call the attention of the learner to the more remarkable events in their synchronisms. He has in one respect differed from the learned author of the Classical Dictionary, in accompanying the year before, or after Christ, with the Olympiad and year of Rome. This he knows from long experience to be a material advantage, and he wishes respectfully to suggest to the author of that excellent work his adoption of it in his future editions." "It is essential also for another reason," which he gives in a note on the chronological table.

In page 115. when Dr. B. is speaking of Gallia braccata, so "called from the braccha, or breeches, worn by the inhabitants," he says in a note:

"Breac is the Celtic word for a stripe: hence we need not doubt that these breeches were made of striped materials: hence also we may under

stand what is meant by the virgati Daha, having a reference to their striped garments. Traces of this early apparel may yet be observed in the Scotch plaid, the patterns of which are always longitudinal and transverse stripes. The Highlanders are a Gaelic (i, e. a Celtic) race.”

We are decidedly of the same opinion, as Dr. Butler is, that bracca is derived from the Celtic word breac, "a stripe," and Dr. Butler might have proved his point from the classical writers themselves thus Propertius says in L. iv. Eleg. x. 39.

Claudius Eridanum trajectos arcuit hostes,
Belgica cui vasti parma relata ducis
Virdumari: Genus hic Rheno jactabat ab ipso,
Nobilis e tectis fundere gesa rotis.

Illi virgatis jaculantis ab agmine braccis

Torquis ab incisa decidit unca gula.

(Illi, as Jos. Scaliger here observes, apxaïns pro illius) Phil. Beroaldus has here these remarks: "Galli vestes gestant intonsas, variique coloris, quas braccas vocant: sagula gerunt virgata, hyeme crassiora, æstate subtiliora: auctor Diodorus in vi., et dixit Maro Virgatis lucent sagulis, quem locum exponens Serv. dixit Virgilium alludere ad Gallicam linguam, per quam virga purpura dicitur; virgatis ergo ac si diceret purpuratis: tu expone virgata sagula et virgatas braccas, quia quibusdam quasi virgis contexta erant et versicoloria." 66 Virga de fuco, quo tinguntur a barbaris corpora,-Valer. Flacc. L. II. v. 159. Nostrosque toros virgata tenebit, Et plaustro derepta nurus, h. e. corpore picto fucata, quo pertinet illud Ovid. De Ar. Am. iii. 269. Pallida purpureis tingat sua corpora virgis," Forcellini Lex. totius Latinitatis. "Virgatus-Quod virgas quasdam in longum, aut latum varia serie, et colore porrectum habet, virgatum dicitur, ut virgate vestes, virgata sagula, quæ discoloribus, tanquam currentibus regulis colorum et ductibus, varia cernuntur. Grammatici hac notione contenti non sunt, sed aiunt ad Gallorum etiam respectum esse linguam, quibus virga purpuram significat, ut virgata sint purpurea; sed simplex intellectus et Latinus magis convenit: Valerius certe Flaccus Thracum mulieribus virgatas vestes tribuens, purpureas non intellexit, sed barbarorum ritu discolores, et veluti virgatis segmentis contextas (the verses are cited above, where also see the interpretation of them by Forcellinus): calathisci virgati, virgis contexti, Catull. Argon. Ixii. 319." Gesneri Thes. Ling. Lat. Forcellinus adds, after having quoted the passage of Catullus, "h. e. texti e virgis varii coloris, Virg. Æn. viii. v. 660. Virgatis lucent sagulis, h. e. maculis et plagulis in modum retis, et cancellorum.distinctis, scaccati, alio nomine scutulatis." Virga properly signifies a stripe; but the stripes, which were wrought into the garments of these barbarous nations, were generally purple; hence then, by a very natural transition, virga comes to sig

nify purple. Now Servius, mistaking, as he did, this metaphorical use of virga in the sense of purple for the proper signification of the word, says that Virgil alludes to the language of the Gauls, amongst whom virga signifies purple, because he knew that these sagula were considered as purple. Thus, to confirm the observation, we may cite the Germany of Tacitus, c. xvii. Fœminæ sæpius lineis amictibus velantur, eosque purpura variant, i. e. purpureis virgis, and Lipsius adds: "Bene ait sæpius: Diaconus in viris agnoscit L. IV. c. vii. Vestimenta eis (de priscis Longobardis, indubie Germanis) erant laxa et maxime linea, qualia AngliSaxones habere solent, ornata institis latioribus, vario colore contextis; sed profecto quæ hic de variegatis latisque institis dicit, nos qui vidimus, scimus etiam nunc proprium amictum esse Germanicarum mulierum." The reader will find in De La Cerda's note on Virg. Æn. viii. 660, some most admirable and erudite observations on the epithet virgatis as applied to sagulis: we shall present him with the whole of it:

"Propertius quoque L. IV. Eleg. ii. Virdomaro Regi Gallorum dat braccas virgatas: sed quæ sagula virgata? in quibus sc. colores distincti instar virgarum. Proprietate vocis usus Catull, vocans calathos ex virgis virgatos. Itaque intelligit poeta fuisse hæc sagula paßiurà, aut segmentata, vel picta, et versicoloria, ut satis indicat Sil. Nam tigrim feram virgatam vocat, loquens de equo Flaminii consulis, cujus equus instratus Caucaseam virgato corpore tigrim: Senec. quoque Hippolyt. virgatas tigres dixit, et in Octav. virgata ubera etiam de tigri. Sic ergo virgata sagula erunt versicoloria. Hom. scutum Sarpedonis exornat L. XII. П. χρυσείοις ῥάβδοισι διηνέκεσιν, continuatis aureis virgis. Et ego credo has virgas esse, quæ eidem 11. Il. dicuntur fuo in scuto Agamemnonis, i. e. viæ, semita. Addit Scalig. in Conjectan. aliud ad perfectam cognitionem formæ hujus, videlicet esse has virgas scutulas. Nam quæ Diodorus loquens de sagis Gallorum vocat πawbía, i. e. laterculos, Plinius scutulas reddit. Atqui Diodor. hoc sagulum paßtarò nominat, i. e. virgatum, et Pollux paedes. Erat igitur hoc opus quadris velut laterculis distinctum. Plin. idem c. xlviii. L. VIII. Inter artifices vestium, tum etiam, scutulis dividere, Gallia. Certe Liv. in funda scutale vocat illud, quod est in medio fundæ. Plinius quoque maculas et plagulas in retibus vocat scutulas, ut cum loquitur de cassibus araneorum. Quod addunt alii, interque illos Scalig. hæc λbia, aut scutulas reticulatas fuisse, intellige (explicante Velsero L. I. Rerum Boicar.) sagula in tesselatam prope speciem distincta, et interstincta, ut si quis plagas retium pictis tabellis solidaret. Hæc de forma [Heyne upon the passage of Virgil has these remarks: "Vestem intellige illa ipsa sagula ex auro facta, ab artifice (seu ut colorem luteum et flavum referret, seu quod auro textas vestes amarent Galli, cf. Silium iv.

155.), versicoloribus segmentis vel virgis intertextis, qui quidem habitus Gallis, Germanis, et Britannis frequentatus, Scotis nondum in usu esse desiit"]. Sed quis color sagulorum? non desunt vv. dd. qui capiant purpuram. In his sunt Cælius L. xvi. c. vii. et Germ. Hi duo in Virg. Tapúpous agnoscunt [" Virgatum Virgilio et Propertio non purpureum, quod nugatur Servius, nec ab eo, quod ῥάβδοι in vestibus dicerentur αἱ πάρυφοι πόρφυραι, quot quidam ex Polluce accommodarunt." Jos. Scaligeri Conject. in Varr. de L. L. p. 67.] Sunt autem яápʊ401 virga purpureæ intextæ vesti, inde et surάputo. Huc pertinent verba interpretis veteris Juvenalis in Sat. 8. Qua tunica (Galli) utuntur in sacris in modum organi utrinque decrescentibus virgulis purpureis. Imo Serv. virgatis explicat purpuratis, et ait lingua Gallorum dici virgam. Trahi etiam in argumentum potest verbum lucent, quod de purpura dici alibi indicabam, et clare Silius, L. III.

Humeroque refulget
Sanguinei patrium saguli decus.

Probavit tamen jam Lipsius ex Valer. et Hirt. non semper sagum fuisse purpureum, sed interdum album. Unde lux accedet Martiali in illo versiculo,

Vis te purpureum Marce sagatus amem.”

Now we profess ourselves to be in the number of those, who think with Servius, who has been treated somewhat harshly on this occasion, that virgatis refers to the purple stripes in the sagulis, and that it is the same as purpuratis, and it is to be observed that the Scholiast upon Juvenal, whom De la Cerda quotes, actually uses the words virgis purpureis, when he is speaking of the garment worn by the Gauls, and so also does Ovid quoted above. We have not been able to find the passage in Lipsius's de Militia Romana, to which De La Cerda refers to show that the sagum was not always purple, but sometimes white; but supposing it to be occasionally white, it might still have purpurea virge. The fact, however, is, that purple was the prevailing color of the sagum among the Gauls, or rather the groundwork was some other color, and these purpurea virge were so interwoven into it, as to present the appearance of a variegated, but still a purple garment. The only blunder of Servius is, in roundly asserting what is false, that virga, in the Gallic tongue, signifies purple, and we have pointed out the source of this error above. Tacitus Hist. L. II. c. xx. says, speaking of Cæcina, Quod versicolore sagulo braccas, barbarum tegmen, indutus, togatos alloqueretur. What Propertius, as we have seen, calls bracă virgatæ, Valerius Flaccus L. vI. v. 227. as Forcellinus informs us, calls pictæ, and in L. v. v. 424. Sarmatica. Gesner in the Thes. L. L. says

under the word: « Braca, vel bracca-vestis fluxa, qua utebantur frigidioris plagæ homines, ad tegenda femora in primis comparata, interdum tamen ita prolixa, ut totum pæne corpus tegeret: ad femora proprie pertinuisse, tum usus, quem statim indicabimus, declarat, tum illud, quod breech, Anglis hodie partem, qua sedetur, notat, et quod britschen Germanis est nates pulsare :-braccis usos fuisse Bessos, docet Ovid. Trist. 3, 10, 19., de Getis ac Sarmatis Ponti accolis idem Trist. 5, 7, 49., ac de Tomitanis, qui se Græcos colonos dicebant, Trist. 5, 10, 34., (ubi) Persica bracca, nempe hæ sunt Persarum avatupides, de Armeniis Juvenal. II. 169., Gallis ita propria fuit, ut inde braccata Gallia diceretur―de Sarmatis et quibusdam Germanis Lucan I. 430. Sarmatica braccæ etiam sunt Valer. Argon. 5, 424." Forcellinus's Remarks deserve to be added: "Vestis barbarorum propria, ut Persarum, Medorum, Sarmatarum, Gallorum, Germanorum, et hujusmodi, nostris femoralibus valde similis, laxior tamen, et longior, ut quæ non femora solum, sed et crura, imo et ventrem contegat talis putatur, quam Dalmatæ e plebe adhuc gestant: A Romanis, sicut neque a Græcis, diu adhibita non fuit; quamvis enim de Augusto narret Sueton. in ejus Vita c. lxxxii. feminalia et tibialia hieme gestasse; ea tamen non braccæ, sed fasciæ fuerunt, quibus femora et tibias involvebat, ut præter alios Casaub. eo loco pluribus docet: posterioribus tamen temporibus etiam ad Romanos transiit; scribit enim Lamprid. in Alex. Sev. c. xl. in fi. eum Imperatorem bracas albas habuisse, non coccineas, ut prius solebant, ex quo intelligitur aliquanto etiam ante braccas a Romanis gestari cœptas: qui mos postea adeo invaluit, ut latis legibus coercendus fuerit: hinc Impp. Arcad. et Honor. sanxerunt, ut nemini liceat intra Urbem braccas gestare, ut in Cod. Theodos. L. XIV. tit. 10. Leg. 2. legitur. v. Salmas. ad l. c. Lamprid." Jos. Scaliger upon Propertius L. IV. Eleg. xi. (cited above) says: " Jam Romanis avažupidas in usu fuisse tempore Licinii Imp. habes ap. Suidam Augévrios: sed et Lampridius scribit Alagabalum braccas albas habuisse, non coccineas, ut solebant reliqui imperatores: quare antiquior usus braccarum Romanis fuit, quam vulgo persuasum." As to the etymology of the word braca, Hoffmann in the Lexicon Universale says from Salmas. ad Tertullian. de Pallio, p. 123. "Non Gallica vox, uti nonnulli contendunt, sed pura puta Græca." J. Vossius says in the Etymologicon Ling. Lat. "Isidoro L. XIX. c. xxii. videtur dici quod sit brevis, nempe a Græco βραχύς : aliis placet esse a ράκος, quod a ῥήσσω, seu ῥήγνυμι, unde ab Εustathio esse dicitur διεῤῥωγὸς ἱμάτιον, vestis disrupta: Eoles, quos Romani maxime imitantur, literam ß literæ præmittunt, quando post p sequitur x, T, vel 8, ut pump, βρυτὴρ, ῥόδον, βρόδον, ῥάκος, βράχος, etc.: sed sane bracæ vox est a Gallis Belgis; quippe hodieque Belgæ, sive Germani inferiores,