Smoot BOOKS.—Xschylus Septem contra Theban. Edited by A. W. Verrall.
(Macmillan.)—Competent judges will expect to find in Mr. Permit's work brilliant scholarship and excellent taste, sometimes, it is possible, deflected from the true standard by a certain eccen- tricity,—or shall we say, audacity ? This was the impression left by his most interesting edition of the " Medea," and by his remarkable studies in Horace. They will not be disappointed by what they find in the " Septem." In the matter of emendation, indeed, they will see that be is less bold than he was in the " Medea." " My own few crorreetions," he writes in the introduction, " are chiefly in the division of the letters into words, and in the accentuation," things which, he points out, are matters of interpretation, if the author dates from the period of uncial writing. If, to use one of his examples, ?s 5s3pen and ivasapar are written precisely alike, an editor is at liberty to choose between them. In another respect, however, Mr. Verrall is nothing less than revolutionary. If there is any prin- ciple commonly accepted in the criticism of the text of the tragedians, it was this,—that there most be a syllabic correspondence between the strophes and the antistrophes of the chorie odes, and that the text must be manipulated till this correspondence is eetab- lished. This principle Mr. Permit boldly traverses. "In many parte of tEschylue and Euripides," he writes, "to support the rule in anything like its fall extent, we must suppose that the copyists suddenly developed in the lyrics a new sort of per- versity, and incessantly made errors, which, while destroying the original exactness of metre, left the sense perfect and the rhythm correspondent." We quite agree with what follows,—" This may be true, but it is not primd facie probable." Still, one feels the ground reeling ander one's feet at being told that the strophe and antistrophe need not syllabically correspond. It is a very serious contention. Non nostrum tantas componere lites. Of Mr. Verrall'e taste and skill, his remarkable subtlety in drawing out the sense of his anther, it is impossible to speak too highly. After the manner of recent editore,he appends a translation. To translate ./Eschylus into anything readable, is indeed a labour; but Mr. Verrall has accomplished it. Here is a speci- men of his work :"Fie upon the fortune that in the unions of mankind joins together the righteous man and the impious ! Whatsoever we do there is nought more evil than evil companionship ; the fruit of it is not for the gathering ; the field of sin bears the fruit of death. Sometimes, embarked with hot-brained voyagers, men of a rascal sort, a pious man cloth perish likewise with the abominable crew. Sometimes in a city a righteous one, joined with others cruel to man and forgetful of God, being found, contrary to nature, in the same net, dies by the undistinguishiag blow of the divine spear."—Platonic Apologia Socratic. By J. Adam, B.A. (Cambridge University Press.) —This is a careful edition, which certainly does not err on the side of any scantiness of notes. We should even be inclined to say that they are too copious. A lad can hardly have reached the "higher forms" of a school, not to say the University, without becoming familiar with such a construction as xfpl &e II spihot sariryopm serryrfpour, or with the declension of aids in good Attic. But this ie not a fault on which teachers will be severe.—From the same publishers we also receive Cyropcodia of Xenophon, edited by Hubert A. Holden, M.A., and Cicerenis ()ratio Philippics Secunda, edited by A. G. Peskett, M.A.—Dr. Holden's name is a guarantee for thorough and accurate editorial work. His introduction is par- ticularly worth study, not the least so in respect of the question as to the substratum of truth which is to be found in Xenopbon's romance. Dr. Holden's conclusion is adverse. "He has made his Cyropredia ' a vehicle for propounding his own peculiar convictions, political and ethical, embodied in a definite historical personage and an already existing state." And be goes on to point out that "a number of doctrines, precepts, and reflections are pat into the months of Cyrus, Cambys6s, and other primitive Persian heroes, bearing an almost literal correspondence with the utterances of Socrates in the ' Memorabilia.'" This Socratic character of the " Cyroprodia " is very curious. The notes, which, according to the new and convenient arrangement, occupy a separate volume, are ample; and there are two indices, the second, of Greek words, most useful to the learner. In Mr. Peskett'a edition of the "Philippica," forty-two pages of text are illustrated by about a hundred of notes. So competent and experienced a scholar, using each sources of information as are supplied by Drumann, Mammon. and Muquart, Wernadorf and Halm, and having his work revised by so profound a Ciceronian scholar as Dr. J. S. Reid, could not fail to produce a valuable book. We see that Mr. Peskett accepts as true Cicero's statement in Section 40 that he had received ampliue sestertium ducentiens (2170,000) by legacies. (It is doubted by Professor Tyrrell.) It is the easiest way of accounting for the orator's wealth. We can recommend Mr. Peakett's volume to reader% who wish to study the divine "Philippica fame, volvitur a prima qua proximo."-We see no particular reason for praising or blaming the Eton Horace, edited by F. W. Cornish. (Murray.)—Eton must stand by itself, and have, as a grammar, so also editions of its own; and who can object if the young aristocrats and plutocrats are taught that pulverem Olympicum means the duet "of Olympia (not Olympus)" The notes are brief, sometimes leaving out noticeable points, as, e.g., in humeros amictus (ii., 31), but generally without objection.—We have also received among " Rivington's Latin Texts," Omar The Gallic War, Book V. and Book II., with Notes and Vocabulary (Rivingtons) ; and Book V., edited by Mr. C. Colbeck (Macmillan), with Intro- duction, Maps, Ac., an edition that seems to supply all that the young scholar wilt need.—Mr. Jerram publishes a second series of his Anglice Reddenda ; or, Extracts for Unseen Trans. lation (Clarendon Press), a volume of which we need not point out the usefulness. These manuals need emu:doml renewal or altera- tion, or the translations cease to be " anseen."—Test.Queetions on the Latin Language, by F. W. Levauder (IL X. Lewis), is a useful collection of questions gathered from a wide range of examination- papers,—so wide, indeed, that it includes the College of Preceptors, and Oxford and Cambridge Fellowship papers.—First Latin Lessons. By A. M. M. Stedman, M.A. (Bell and Sons.)—Donbt- less this will be found a useful book, for it carries out the injunction, so necessary for successful teaching, "line upon line, precept upon precept." But the Latin might have been better. Even at the beginning a boy should never see but the very best. Surely a Roman having to express that a girl was killed by an arrow, would prefer to say, "Sagitta moles eat," to "Sagitta puellam occidit." We notice, on p.69, the misprint "m3ificate erint."—A companion volume, from the same author and publisher, is Miscellaneous Latin Exercises.— The Modern Latin Grammar. By James Clyde, M.A. (Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh.)—" The speciality of this grammar," says Mr. Clyde in his preface, "is that, while offering the usual equipment for the study of classical Latin, it at the same time elucidates systematit catty the immense deposit of Latin contained in English." It is a good idea, and it is well carried out. To give an early instance of what is done, we have lists of words of the various declension- stems that are naturalised in English, as acacia, area, &a., anisette, asparagus, Au., and so on through the others. Again, under the verbs, we have lists under each stem of verbs formed from the Latin that are current in our own language. No learner with any intelli- gence can fail to get much enlightenment from the method Mr. Clyde has employed. There is an excellent appendix giving a number of Latin phrases, Ac., in popular use, famous mottoes, abbreviations, Ac. We observe one or two blemishes in the grammar itself. Currents calamo is not a good example of the ablative absolute. Its see would be instrumental. But we doubt whether it is a classical phrase. Nemine contradicente certainly is not. The learner should have been warned against it. We object, again, to the reactionary statement that "place" is put " if the name be singular in the genitive of the L and II. Declensions, and in the ablative of the III. Declen- sion." The locative termination (singular) of the first and second declensions is the same aa the genitive, and that of the third generally (though Carthagini is an instructive exception) the same as the ablative. But the use of different oases in different declensions to express the same idea, is irrational and, we think, unparalleled. The use of rare for "in the country," is so very rare in prose (the lexicons
give one instance only), that it might have been omitted.—The Eton Latin Grammar. Part I., Abridged. By A. C. Ainger, M.A., and H. G. Wintle, M.A. (John Murray.)-We are sorry to see that Eton goes back to the old order of the cases. Sorely the change introduced by the " Primer" was a great saving of trouble. It is not correct to say that the " vocative of eubstantives ending in 'ins' ends ' " Proper names so end, and Pius as being need like a proper name ; but common nouns follow the usual form. The setting out of the paradigms, &o., is admirably plain. We cannot see much other merit in The Eton Latin Grammar.— Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. By F. C. Woodforde, B.A. (Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.)-Though the author of this book has entered into the labours of other men, he has produced a school book of considerable excellence. There is a clearly written outline of the plot ; the general remarks on the play are well- condensed criticisms on various topics which belong to it ; the notes are strictly explanatory and illustrative ; and the glossary ie full, has been carefully prepared, and is etymological, Skeet's Dictionary having been mainly used. This latter is a valuable feature for those preparing for examination, as the words can be studied apart from the text without having to be bunted out from amongst a quantity of irrelevant notes. It can be recommended to those who want a good and cheap edition of the play.—Coriolanus. (W. and R. Chambers.)-This edition of the play is furnished with a short introduction, an excellent plan of study, copious notes, and five examination papers. The notes are such as an intelligent pupil requires, and not too abstruse ; but they are in too small type, and look confused, and there is no index of words, names, or grammatical points, a serious omission.—English Grammar and Analysis. By F. Ritchie, M.A. (Rivingtons.)-The ideal English Grammar has yet to be written, and this is a con- tribution towards it. Although etymology is first treated of, the author intends that it shall be studied pari paean with the portion which treats of analysis. The principal features of the work are the conciseness of the text, the etymology being comprised in forty- six by no means closely printed pages, which contain all the essentials; the excellence of the tabulation of forms ; and the number and appropriateness of the exercises. The syntax is particularly well done, all the minute points being illustrated and furnished with abundance of exercises from classic authors. The idea of giving speeches from standard plays and novels, in direct and indirect narration, to be dealt with conversely, is a new and valuable feature. There is a complete index.
We have received three little volumes which belong to Mr. E. Stanford's series of "Tourists' Guides," and are :-Wiltshire its Scenery and Antiquities, by R. N. Worth ; The Wye and its Neighbourhood, by G. Phillips Bevan ; and Suffolk, with Excur- sions by River, Railway, and Road, by Dr. J. E. Taylor. Both Mr. Worth and Mr. Bevan are known as the authors of guides pre- viously published which have met with a most favourable reception, and which, indeed, give all the information that can be expected, or, we might almost say, desired. Dr. Taylor is, we think, a new hand ; but he does his work with success, from what is plainly a thorough knowledge of the county. All three volumes may be recommended without hesitation. They are furnished with maps sufficient for general purposes.
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