اور الاور have quoted from Albertus Magnus, who says that zoron signifies the north, and aphron the south. There can be no doubt that signifies the north, and that if we add the tenwan, we may pronounce al-avron. Again, if the word jeb be read,b, we may pronounce tsaran, though an Arabian would probably pronounce dhsaran. This word signifies the middle of the day. But Mr. Hager's explanation directly contradicts the assertion of the Arabian author from whose treatise Albertus quotes. Though it be true, that al-avr, or al-avron, signifies the north, it also signifies heat; and a hot wind is called in Arabic. But this was also the ancient name of the sun in the same language, and accordingly it bears that signification in the book of Job. I would however rather consider, as the radical letters in Aphron or perhaps only. It is true that we shall find no word either in Arabic or Hebrew, which gives us a name for the south under this form; but let us observe that phrah, or pharah, signifies to be fruitful; the country of the south, to which the fleets of Solomon sailed, was called Ophir; the name of Aphrica, or Africa, was chosen for the hottest portion of the globe; and an inhabitant of that country was called Afer. The Egyptian words equivalent to λs and to ó vótos were phre and phres. With respect to the word zoron, I believe it to have been really an ancient Arabic word. is clearly a formative from or ; and at Job xxxvii. 9. we have the following words-D NITI of the south cometh the whirlwind, and Upon the whole then I am inclined to think, that aphron and zoron ought not to be considered as words coined by Albertus, and adopted by Vincent, in the 18th century. They seem to be really of Oriental origin. וממזרים קרה — out cold out of the north. Mr. Hager observes, that Renaudot and Azuni are mistaken when they state that the Orientalists call the mariner's compass by a name resembling the Italian word bussola. La bussola, says he, chiamasi ora kible name (xol x) o chibre name (قبله تامه) (خبر نامه) ora kutub nume (b) in quelle tre lingue (Arabic, Turkish, and Persian): siccome in Cinese si dice ora kepuon, ora loking, o sci-nan, per nulla dire di altri popoli Orientali. I cannot confirm Mr. Hager's statement from my own knowledge, but he refers to Meninski. Certainly, however, al-kutub is the name of the polar star in Arabic; and kutub name appears to signify that which tells or indicates the polar star. I have not been able to find the Chinese words, which Mr. Hager has adduced, in the dictionary of De Guignes; but this may be my fault. It can scarcely however be doubted, that the Chinese were acquainted with the polarity of the magnetic needle from remote antiquity. (Martini Histor. Sinic. L. 4. Maila Hist. Gén. de la Chine. See also Barrow's Travels, Vol. 3.) From the observations which I have already made, I think it must be admitted that the ancient Orientalists were acquainted with the use of the mariner's compass, or with an instrument which was similar to it. Shall we say that the Chinese were the inventors of this instrument? Their claims are more ancient than those of the Arabians; but yet I cannot bring myself to believe that China was the cradle of the sciences. It is made quite clear by Gaubil, that the Chinese had observed an eclipse of the Sun 2155 years before Christ; and that their astronomical charts of very ancient date contained many stars, which are invisible without the help of the telescope. But though they could calculate eclipses, and seem to have known the periods in which some of the planets revolve round the Sun; yet their knowledge seems always to have been mixed with so much ignorance, that I am led to think that it was chiefly obtained from foreign sources, and that they never were distinguished for their progress in the sciences. In the annals of the Egyptians we meet with little to authorise us to suppose that they were acquainted with the polarity of the needle, if we can believe that so scientific a people could have been ignorant of a fact, which was not unknown to other Oriental nations. There are however some circumstances, which indicate that the Egyptians were really no strangers to this fact; but, like other secrets of their science, it must be looked at through the veil of allegory. Dr. Greaves found a magnet, formed in the shape of a beetle, on the breast of a mummy. Now we know that the beetle was a solar type; and the use of this magnet had been VOL. XIX. NO. XXXVIII. CI. JI. X undoubtedly to point north and south, and thus served to indicate to its possessor, when the Sun came to the meridian. We learn from Plutarch, that the north was the region of Typhon, and the south that of Horus-that the Great Bear was the constellation of the former, and Orion that of the latter. But Plutarch tells us, that the loadstone was called the bone of Horus, and the iron the bone of Typhon. It is further remarkable, that the poets almost always put Orion and the Great Bear in opposition, though the relative positions of these two constellations do not strictly correspond with this supposed hostility. Hear Euripides, Ion, 1152: Πλειὰς μὲν ᾔει μεσοπόρου δι' αιθέρος, Οτε ξιφήρης Ωρίων, ὕπερθε δὲ *Αρκτος στρέφουσ ̓ οὐραῖα χρυσήρει πόλῳ. Why is Orion called Egns? Why is he represented with a sword which he points to the north? Why does the Latin poet term him ferroque minax? Is it meant that Orion, or Horus, having wrested the iron from Typhon, always points it against him? Homer, after remarking that the Bear turns round the pole, adds, καὶ τὸν Ωρίωνα δοκεύει. The scholiast says that the Bear always contemplates Orion as the leader of the Dog, Bλéttel yap, continues he, ἡ μεγάλη ἄρκτος πρὸς τὸ τοῦ Ωρίωνος ἄστρον. The Egyptian fable of the enmity between Horus and Typhon was an allegory, which was probably made applicable to various subjects. In short it was a mixed fable. The loadstone was the bone of Horus; the iron was the bone of Typhon. The constellation of Typhon, on one side of the zodiac, is represented as always pointing to, and regarding the constellation of Horus on the other, as the iron turns towards the magnet. Horus, or Orion, the lord of the south, points his sword towards Typhon, the lord of the north, as the needle points to the pole. These allusions may seem strained and remote; but we must be often contented with such, in endeavouring to explain the mystical and symbolical types, by which the Egyptians darkly expressed their knowledge. When we are told that Typhon ruled the region to the right hand (the north); that Horus ruled the region to the left hand (the south); and that the loadstone was the bone (the strength) of Horus, and the iron the bone (the strength) of Typhon; how can we doubt that some indication, ་ though it be obscurely expressed, is given of the polarity of the magnetic needle ? I have not a copy of Hor-Apollo at hand; but, if I do not forget, he mentions the needle as an Egyptian hieroglyphic. The author of the book entitled Hor-Apollo was a Greek, namned Philip, who lived in the fourth century; and his explanations of the ancient hieroglyphics are often very unsatisfactory. If a needle existed among the curiologic characters, it probably indicated the magnetic needle. What else could a needle signify in the hieroglyphical writings of the sages of Egypt? Florence, Dec. 1818. W. DRUMMOND. DE CARMINIBUS ARISTOPHANIS COMMENTARIUS; AUCTORE G. B. PARS VIII.-[Vid. No. XXXVII. p. 131.] IN Equitibus ne unum quidem exstat carmen Antistrophicum; quod ipse primus reperi; neque plus quam duo ad Epodorum formam redigenda sunt. Horum prius sic lege. v. 284. et sqq. ΚΛ. ἀποθανεῖσθον αὐτίκα μάλα, καταβοήσομαι σοβῶν σέ ΑΛ. τριπλάσιον κεκράξομαι, σὸν 5 10 νὴ τὸν Ἑρμῆν τὸν ̓Αγοραῖον. ἀλλ ̓ ἕτερα τοίνυν σοφίζου. ΚΛ. και σε φήσω γ ̓ ἀδεκατεύτους κοιλίας πωλεῖν ἔχοντα. 15 Vulgo a', γ', Inter hæc et versuum sedem et voces ipsas mutavi. β'. At ineptum esset τριπλάσιον κεκράξομαι, ab altero dictum, cum nondum ab alterius ore venisset καταβοήσομαι. Etenim illo τριπλάστον indicatur loquendi climax. Quod ad voces, Comicum ignorare debeat is, qui credat in tali loco scriptum esse κεκράξομαι, καταβοήσομαι et κατακεκράξομαι-necnon βοῶν et κράζων: quasi vocibus istis inesset pondus aliquid, neque dialogi ratio aliud quid postularet. Ipse quidem nullus hæsitavi eruere κατὰ κάρανον ἐξακρίζων e κατακεκράξομαί σε κράζων, memor Homerici κατ ̓ ἀνδρῶν κράατα βαίνει : qui gestus est hominis fastu elati; quem æque bene depingunt verba κατὰ κάρανον ἐξακρίζων : etenim ἐξακρίζειν, quod usurpat Euripides in Orest. 275, necnon ἀκρίζειν, in nei fragmento, una cum ἀκροβάζειν et ἀκροβηματίζειν, οmnia idem significant atque τοῖς ποσὶν ἄκροις βαίνειν. vel illud Sophocleum in Aj. 1917. Υψήλ ̓ ἐκόμπεις κἀπ ̓ ἄκρων ὠδοιπόρεις : ubi Lobeckius citat, post Musgravium, ex Libanio ἐπ' ἄκρων πορεύονται εἰ σοβῶν τε καὶ ἄνω βρίνων: unde se tuetur quoque meum σοβῶν in Aristophane qui verbum id et composita sæpe usurpat. Kusteri Index dat Σοβεῖν bis, ̓Αποσοβεῖν quater, et Περισοβεῖν semel. E quibus opportune perquam allegatur Eq. 60. ἀποσοβεῖ τοὺς ῥήτορας scil. Cleom: quod idem hic facere minatur. V. 5. Vulgo σ' ἐὰν στρατηγῆς. At nondum dixerat Allantapola se στρατηγεῖν futurum. Contra vero Cleon ipse fuerat olim στρατηγὸς in profectione ad Pylum : fuit quoque etiam nunc inter τοὺς στρατηγούς : quorum mentio facta est apud Schol. ad Eq. 999. V. 6. Vulgo ἀλαζονείας. Sed mecum facit Eq. 903. 'Η γὰρ θεός μ' ἐκέλευσε νικῆσαί σ' ἀλαζονεία : et 887. Οἵοις πιθηκισμοῖς με περιελαύνεις. V. 7. Vulgo ὑποτεμοῦμαι. Αt nihil hic habet vox media. Certe ἐκτεμῶ exstat in Eq. 374. Τον πρηγορῶνα σοῦ ̓κτεμῶ : et Ran. 583. τὸν λάρυγγ ̓ ἂν ἐκτέμοιμί σου : et ἀποτεμῶ apud Cratinum in Lex. Bekker. p. 28. ̓Αποτεμεῖν μηχάνας. Κρατῖνος. Τούτου δ ̓ ἁπάσας ἀποτεμῶ τὰς μηχάνας. V. 9, 10, 11, 12. Vulgo γ', δ', α', β'.' Sed futura illa tempora plane indicant sedem suam. V. 9. Ita Elmsl. ad Ach. 278. at γρύξεις Suid. in Κόπρια. V. 16. ἀλλότρια τοίνυν σοφίζου. At hæc minime ad Cleonem pertinent, verum ad 'Αλλαντ—qui monet adversarium nova debere meditari, ne victus ab arena discedere videatur. V. 17. Vulgo φαίνω τοῖς Πρυτάνεσιν ἀδεκτο θ. ἐχ. κοι. At bene sit Athenæo III. p. 94. D. scribenti 'Αριστο φανὴς ἐν Ιππεῦσι· καὶ σὲ φήσω ἀδεκατεύτους κοιλίας πωλεῖν. Unde patet, metro confirmatum, gl. esse τοῖς Πρυτάνεσιν, et voces olim aliter dispositas. 1 |