tibi dicere istuc.

E.

8.

E.

8.

E.

subit

aegra suspitio, ne quid aliquo ex loco unde nil timeam aut exspectem subito exoriatur malum.

S.

vix audeo

quid istaec sunt mysteria, Polyverivates? dic mihi, amabo. esto: eloquar. hoc age: vocivas da mihi aures, dum loquar. iam plurumi anni sunt ex quo inprobissumus homo in hisce habitabat aedibus nefariis: is homo sceleratus hospitem occidit suom, qui ad eum devorsus erat. is id fecit scelus ob istuc aurum, quod secum hospes tetulerat. quod quon perfecit, aurum occisor habet sibi et in aula, quam invenisti, servat clanculum. boni tamen inde nil capit, sed miseriis, intemperiis, molestiis, cruciatibus,

morbis, conficitur. surdus fit, edentulus,
exsanguis, caecus, claudus. gemitus est merus.
numquam dormire potis est. gustatu caret.
eius gnatae conrumpuntur, filii sibi

adsciscunt quisque mortem: mox et ipse obit.
sed iam moriturus hanc in aedibus suis
defodit aulam, et diras inprecatus est

ei, qui inveniret casu ubi esset condita.
tute invenisti.

quinam id tu tenes?

S.

qui cetera illa teneo? quia divino ego

sum genere natus, ut dixi.

E.

at certe licet

8.

E.

S.

habeo repertum.

E.

scio, sed quaenam te ita agitat

mala res, aut quisnam est iste morbus, qui adfici hunc in modum mortifere subito coeptus es?

S.

quid vis, malum, istis verbis ?

quia viridis tuom

os occupavit pallor, exardescere

incipiunt oculi

aurum istuc. id depone parumper obsecro.

egon hoc deponam ?

eccum depono. sed vos hinc paulum prius apscedite apstate etiam longiusculum.

E.

sic facimus.

em: posivi.

di vostram fidem,

L.

nihil umquam vidi lepidius.

meus hic homost.

8.

quin me, ere, manu

coepit iam formidare. profligavimus

emittis ?

hostes turbantur; pugnam iam magis strenuam huic intendamus, dum se det suasque res.

iam hic ero.

quid ere ais, factumst ex tua sententia?

vos plaudite.

PINDAR, Nem. VII. 17.

σοφοὶ δὲ μέλλοντα τριταῖον ἄνεμον

ἔμαθον, οὐδ ̓ ὑπὸ κέρδει βάλον. With the contentions which have raged over the last clause this note has no concern. Why Pindar should have chosen as an example of cleverness the power to predict a wind three days before, no one has explained. The following passage from Strabo (vi. 276) seems to give the source of the metaphor. Strabo is quoting from Polybius an account of the island Hephaistos, or Hiera (modern Volcano) off the coast of Sicily av μὲν οὖν νότος μέλλῃ πνεῖν, ἀχλὺν ὀμιχλώδη καταχεῖσθαι κύκλῳ φησὶ τῆς νησῖδος ὥστε μηδὲ τὴν Σικελίαν ἔπωθεν φαίνεσθαι· ὅταν δὲ βορέας, φλόγας καθαρὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ λεχθέντος κρατῆρος εἰς ὕψος ἐξαίρεσθαι καὶ βρόμους ἐκπέμπεσθαι μείζους· τὸν δὲ ζέφυρον μέσην τινὰ ἔχειν τάξιν. τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους κρατῆρας ὁμοειδεῖς μὲν εἶναι, τῇ δὲ βίᾳ λείπεσθαι τῶν ἀναφυσημάτων· ἔκ τε δὴ τῆς διαφορᾶς τῶν βρόμων καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πόθεν ἄρχεται τὰ ἀναφυσήματα καὶ αἱ φλόγες καὶ αἱ λιγνύες προσημαίνεσθαι καὶ τὸν εἰς ἡμέραν τρίτην πάλιν μέλλοντα ἄνεμον πνεῖν· τῶν γοῦν ἐν Λιπάραις γενομένης ἀπλοίας προειπεῖν τινάς φησι τὸν ἐσόμενον [ἄνεμον] καὶ μὴ διαψεύσασθαι.

The date of the 7th Nemean is fixed at 461 B.C. Pindar had been in Sicily long before, and had already shown how much he was impressed not merely by the volcanic features of Etna, but also of all this region as far as Cumae in the 1st Pythian (18 sqq.) : ταί θ ̓ ὑπὲρ Κύμας ἁλιερκέες ὄχθαι, | Σικελία τ' αὐτοῦ πιέζει στέρνα λαχνάεντα· κίων δ ̓ οὐρανία συνέχει, | νιφόεσσ' Αίτνα, πάνετες χιόνος ὀξείας τιθήνα | τᾶς ἐρεύγονται μὲν ἀπλάτου πυρὸς ἁγνόταται | ἐκ μυχῶν παγαί.

Professor Robertson Smith informs me that at this very day the boatmen of the island Volcano aver that they know whether the anchorage off the island is safe for some time to come, from the sounds made by the crater. - WILLIAM RIDGEWAY.

τὸ πλεῖστον, εὔνουν εὔφροσιν δεδεγμένη ον ευνο[υ]ν having been corrupted to αμεινον, τὸ πλεῖστον would necessarily be altered to τὰ πλεῖστ'. Or perhaps άμεινον stood in the text

ἄμεινον, εὔφρον' εὔφροσιν, δεδεγμένη and τὰ πλεῖστα, inserted in the margin to explain it, was copied in, so displacing εὔφρον”. The phrase εὔφρον εὔφροσιν ( well-disposed to such as were wellminded towards himself') is in keeping both with the context, and with the scene in the Agamemnon, to which this passage relates, viz. that of the King's reception, especially vv. 805-9, 832-50. On the other hand, it is more than improbable that the poet made εὔφροσιν do duty for εὔφροσιν ἔπεσι (like the Homeric μειλίχια and κερτόμια) or for εὐφροσύναις ( with festivities ') instead of simply writing εὐφρόνως. ἠμποληκότα is equally translatable with ἄμεινον ( having dealt, i. e. fared, well on the whole ') or with τὸ πλεῖστον (‘having procured his chief object, the capture of Troy. Cf. Soph. Trachin. 93.)

G. C. WARR.

FURTHER NOTE ON ARISTOPHANES, Ranae 1028. In the June number of the Classical Review I proposed to emend the corrupt verse,

ἐχάρην γοῦν ἡνίκ ̓ ἤκουσα περὶ Δαρείου τεθνεῶτος, by reading

ἐχάρην γοῦν ἡνίκ ̓ ἐκώκυσας, πόρι Δαρείου τεθνεῶτος.

Mr. A. E. Housman has favoured me with an interesting suggestion, which he permits me to communicate to the Review. With reference to the phrase πόρι Δαρείου he writes, “The phrase plainly is one which a comic writer would hardly himself invent; and, if Aristophanes did employ it, the surmise would be natural that Aeschylus in the Persae had actually called Xerxes πόρις Δαρείου as a variation on πῶλος. I think perhaps he had.

The epode Pers. 677 sqq. is handed down in this nonsensical form :

ὦ πολύκλαυτε φίλοισι θανών,

τί τάδε δυνάτα δυνατα

περὶ τῷ σῷ δίδυμα διαγόεν δι ̓ ἁμάρτια
πάσα γᾷ τάδε

ἐξέφθινται τρίσκαλμοι

ναες ἄναες ἄναες.

This bas-relief is described by Winckelmann, who gives an engraving of it taken from a cast (Storia delle Arti, ed. Fea ii. p. 256). It formerly belonged to Dr. Mead, but its subsequent history has hitherto been unknown. I have the satisfaction of stating that it is now in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. It had been inserted in the chimneypiece of a room which until a few years ago was used as a museum, and where it had probably been since the erection of the building in 1759. Mead's sale was in

1755. How it came to Dublin is not known.-Τ. Κ. ABBOTT.

PARVM CAVISSE VIDEtvr.

HOR. a, p. 351-353 verum ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis offendar maculis, quas aut incuria fudit aut humana PARVM CAVIT natura.

Some twelve years ago I had the great good fortune to see something of Jakob Bernays. Among other matters, he instanced this passage as a proof of the narrow reading of editors of Horace. For if any of them had read Fronto, he must have illustrated Horace from these words de feriis Alsiensibus, p. 227, 13 Naber)

si quempiam condemnas, PARVM CAVISSE VIDETVR ais. The illustration seemed to me quite new, and I cited it to many friends, not suspecting that it had been recorded in my interleaved Corpus Poetarum since 1851 or 1852, when I first read Fronto. For there Heindorf cites Horace, and also Festus, s. v. parum. -JOHN E. B. MAYOR.

THE elections to Council ended in a compromise, and the only contest resulted in what seemed a defeat of Natural Science and a victory of Conservative reaction. Perhaps a majority of Congregation would like a little rest from legislation for the present. The statute founding a school of Modern Language and Literature was thrown out; the votes being equal in a very full house: and the abolition of the Profesorship of Poetry was negatived by an overwhelming majority. The first of these votes implies no hostility to the study of Modern Languages: but the Philologists had amended the statute mercilessly so as to give Literature no chance, and it was also felt that the school had been overburdened with subjects which hardly one man in ten years would take up, while the University would have to find a teaching and examining staff, at an expense quite disproportioned to the results obtained." We were threatened with a large diversion of students to Cambridge but we might spare the half-dozen secondand third-classmen who have as yet distinguished themselves in the new school at that University. It is fair to add that the ladies have been more successful there and it matters nothing to learning, or to its professors, what is the sex of a student, or whether he or she has gone through the form of matriculation and graduation: but even here the results point to a less ambitious start, with only those languages and literatures which are likely to attract a considerable body of students, and in which it is possible to find examiners who are not also the sole teachers. Meanwhile much might be done by encouraging or requiring the study of books other than English in the existing Schools.

:

The other discussion turned mainly on the value of the traditions of the Chair of Poetry, on the desirability of giving non-residents some ground for keeping their names on the books and occasionally visiting the University, and on the results of election by Boards of various kinds. The Boards were declared to be too large to feel any responsibility, and too small to be safe from pressure: and the appropriation by Language of the English Chair, which it should have shared with Literature, drove many to the conclusion that the same thing would somehow happen again if a Chair of English Literature were set up. The most rational suggestion made was that a readership for a term of years was better than a professorship for life. And if any college possesses a man who could draw crowds to his lectures on the subject, it is not easy to see why either would be wanted-unless as a recognition by the University when the success is unquestionable. The attack made on the colleges, in one of these debates, might very well be retorted on the University, as College Tutors have in the past been quite as useful and quite as eminent as the average professors :-indeed the renown of some very eminent Professors is due almost entirely to the days when the University had not recognised them. It may be added that The University' as represented in Congregation consists almost wholly of the despised Colleges', with a considerable addition of the local clergy and those Professors who do not hold official fellowships, the latter class being much the smaller. And it may further be hinted that the Colleges are always expected to find the money and may reasonably have something to say to the use made of it by this miscellaneous body.

A memorial from over eight hundred members of the Senate was presented to the Council on Nov. 19, asking that steps may be taken to allow women who are duly qualified to proceed to the B. A. degree. Most of the signatures are those of non-residents.

Mr. M. R. James is to go out to Cyprus in place of Mr. H. B. Smith, as at first proposed. Mr. H. E. Ryle (King's) is the new Hulsean Professor.

THE LYGDAMIS INSCRIPTION.

HAVING lately had occasion to examine closely the Lygdamis inscription (B.c. 460455) in the British Museum, I have remarked certain peculiarities in some of the letters which, I believe, have hitherto escaped notice.

First, the letters Theta and Omikron are both represented by one form: a circle with a point (or small hole) in the centre, thus O (see Kirchhoff Studien, 4th ed. p. 12, table Ì. i.). This central point, as we know, marks the later form of Theta; but as part of

Omikron it is not very common, as appears from Kirchhoff's tables. Now, casting one's eyes over the inscription, one is struck by the fact that the incised ring of this symbol is shallower and broader and at the same time smoother in workmanship than the cutting of other letters. Moreover, the ring is a perfect circle. It is evident that it is not cut, as other letters, with the chisel, but with a mechanical tool working after the fashion of a modern centre-bit, the point or hole in the centre being made by the pivot on which the cutter revolves. This being so, however the point may count as an integral

part of Theta, it goes for nothing in the case of Omikron. It is simply there for the convenience of the sculptor, who found a centrebit much more handy for a circular letter than the chisel and mallet. As regards the supersession of the cross in the archaic form of Theta by the simple point in the later form of the letter, it may not be too much to suggest that the change originated in the use of a mechanical tool such as the centre

bit. Material and implements have always exercised much influence on the changes in forms of letters. In papyri and mediaeval MSS. Theta has the bar, the lineal descendant of the archaic cross.

That the point in the centre of Omikron in the Lygdamis inscription is due to the above cause, is confirmed by the variations in the letter Omega. Kirchhoff has remarked that, following the analogy of the central-pointed Omikron, the Omega in the latter part of the inscription is also furnished with a central point, thus 2. The fact is, that the sculptor cut his Omegas in the greater part of the inscription with the chisel; but, when approaching the end, he seems to have bethought him that he could more readily make the segment of a circle required for the letter with the centre-bit and the happy thought was acted upon with the result of very symmetrical segments with the small pivot-hole in the centre.

It would be interesting to know to what extent central points in other inscriptions are due to the same cause.

In connexion with the Lygdamis inscription, there also arises an interesting question as regards the peculiar symbol which is there used to represent σo in certain names. This symbol has the form T (quite distinct from the Tau, which has no pendants), the same that appears on certain Thracian coins and in an inscription of Teos (see Kirchhoff, p. 12). It has been identified with the symbol from which the later Sampi is derived, and which is itself derived from the ancient Greek San and Phoenician Tsade (Taylor, Alphabet, ii. 97). Now, this inscription records a decree concerning certain property in Halikarnassos, passed probably at the time of the expulsion of the tyrant Lygdamis, not later than B.C. 455. Halikarnassos was Herodotos's native city, which he did not finally quit till the year 443. It is then more than probable that the historian may have set eyes on this very inscription. But he himself tells us that the letter (ypáμua) which the Ionians call Sigma the Dorians call San. The Sigma of the inscription is . The Ionians would call it Sigma;

the Dorians San. What then would be the name of the σo symbol T? If Herodotos is right, surely not San, which, as we have just seen, was given to . Has Herodotos used the word letter where he should have used the word sound?

E. MAUNDE THOMPSON.

P.S. Since writing the above, I have had an opportunity of seeing an early copy of Mr. Roberts' Greek Epigraphy, and find that he also has noticed the use of a circling tool for cutting Theta and Omikron.

AN ARCHAIC GREEK VASE. THERE is in the British Museum an archaic Greek vase which Mr. Cecil Smith published some years ago in the Hellenic Journal (I. p. 202, pl. 7), giving a very interesting explanation of the subject printed on it. The vase is in the form of a kylix, and the figures with which we are concerned are disposed on the outside of it. Mr. Smith has separated the figures into two groups, the main one representing a marriage procession with the attendant ceremony of the sacrifice of a bull. The other group, consisting of figures dancing, or at least moving actively round a goat, he connects with the victory of a tragic chorus. In this latter interpretation there is every reason to believe that he is right. But there being no apparent connexion between a tragic victory and a marriage procession, we should expect these scenes to be more clearly separated on the vase. Failing that, and taking the representation of the tragic victory as proved, we may look for a corresponding scene among the other figures. The bull was the prize of a dithyrambic victory, and the leading of it here to sacrifice with a flute-player piping on his flutes would be a very suitable representation of such an event. Another archaic vase in the Museum (Cat. 687 Panofka, Vasi di Premio, pl. 46), gives us just such a scene under circumstances which leave little doubt of its meaning, since on the opposite side of the vase we see Dionysos and two other figures riding in a car in the form of a ship on wheels. That would show us the celebration of both a comic and a dithyrambic victory.

=

If, then, on the vase with which we are particularly concerned, we have a tragic and possibly a dithyrambic victory, responding to each other on the two sides of the vase, we ought next to look for some indication of the comic contest also. To that end we observe that these two main scenes are separated at one point by a cart drawn by a pair of