29 JUNE 1895, Page 12

told, "is based upon that of Davidson." Davidson's, as revised

by Mr. T. A. Buckley, was the Virgil crib with which many people were familiar forty years ago. It was a very indifferent perform- ance, grotesque in parts, and wanting both in scholarship and dignity. That the version has been greatly improved by Dr. Bryce is at once manifest ; whether it has been put on a level with Messrs. Lonsdale and Lee's translation in the " Globe" series is doubtful. We even think that it might have been better to have done tho work entirely anew. Every point has to be con- sidered if this is done, whereas it is only too easy to overlook when an old version is revised. We may note a few points. V. 706, haw responsa dabat, " He used to declare," &c. It is much better to take " haec " of Pallas, not as here agreeing with " response." VI. 360, uncis manibus, " bent hands," better " clenched ;" 270, luce malign, "faint and glimmering light,"-- why not simply " scanty " or " grudging " ? 302, conto subigit, " paddles with a pole," must mean " push " in some way,--a pole is a very unsatisfactory thing to paddle with; 387, increpat ultro, "and challenges, to boot," not very intelligible, ultro gives the idea of " unprovoked ; " suti/is cymba, "cobbled boat," is too prosaic, as is " tenacious fluke," for dents tenaci, in vi. 3. We may give as a connected specimen of Dr. Bryce's manner the well-known lines on Marcellus :—" Seek not, my son, to know the crushing sorrow of your race ; him the Fates shall only show to earth, nor let him longer stay. Ye gods, Rome's sons had seemed to you too powerful had these gifts been lasting. With what wailings shall the men of Mars' great city fill the place ! What funeral pomp shall you behold, Father Tiber, when you flow past that fresh-made tomb ! Neither shall any of the Trojan line raise hopes so high in Latin fathers, nor shall the land of Romulus e'er boast so much of any of her sons. Ah, piety ! ah, that faith of ancient times ! and that right hand invincible in war." This is not more than respectable, would hardly, say, be marked " one plus" by an examiner. It would have been as well to mark the tense of praeterlabere.