Fragments of the Greek Comic Poets. With Renderings in English
Verse, by F. A. Paley, LL.D. (Swan Sonnenschein and Co.)— In the late Professor Paley, whose last work this is, the cause of scholarship has lost an able and devoted servant. But, unlike some other scholars, it is by his editions rather than his transla- tions of the classics, that he will be best remembered. Never was there a more ineffectual attempt to convey the soaring thoughts of 2Eschylus and Pinder than his renderings of these poets. The fragments of the Late and Middle Comedy were more within his reach, but even here his infelicities are often very marked. Why, he asks in his preface, should Aristophanes be read in schools while Menander is neglected P The answer is plain. Because he was not only a greater writer, but we have better means of judging him, in the possession of several complete plays. Several of the fragments in this collection have been preserved for other reasons than their literary merits. And far too many of the jokes are fishy. The following is from Antiphanes :- " The parasite who shares your look and table Prays that to feed him you may long be able! Not jealous be, or envious of good living, As long as you to him a share are giving! A hearty friend, and safe, and not pugnacious, Meek, patient at a snob, at jokes sagacious, Loving and laughing, merry in his manner, Glad e'en to fight—under a rich man's banner ! "
Marriage, says Menander, is a necessary evil, but then, so also are children :—
" Olec fortv du ie 6.0Ato5.repov warp6s vashv lvepos he if witeaSvo, vataa, vraThp :"
which is not taking a bright view of life, but is probably a senti- ment put in the mouth of some testy old parent.
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