23 JUNE 1894, Page 15

" ILIONA" OR " ILIONNE " OR " ILiONA" ?

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECT/TOB.."1 SIR,—Is your correspondent, "Hand Juvenis," in the Spectator of June 16th, quite certain about the method of writing the name of Priam's eldest daughter in Greek ? He speaks as if it were written 'IXiOyn. Virgil and Horace call her "Ili5ne." Lord Palmerston, if I remember right, when appealed to for the pronunciation of his racehorse's name, replied, " lliona," and was well laughed at by those conversant with the familiar lines of Horace and Virgil. Yet Smith's Dictionary of Biography" spells the name ' Wane (proper oxytone, not 'Ixds•n), which looks as if Lord Palmerston was nearer right, or, at least, nearer to the original authorities than the Cambridge scholars of whom "Hand Javenis " speaks. Smith, however, does not name his authority for that spelling, so your correspondent may be right after all. The doubt may serve as a fresh proof how difficult minute

accuracy is in any matter.—I am, Sir, &a., T. H.