P. Terentii Afri Andria. Edited by T. L. Papillon. (Rivingtons.)
—This is a new edition of a volume which appeared a few years ago in the series of the Catena Classicorum. The introduction has been enlarged by a section in which the difficult question of Plautine and Terentian prosody is fully discussed. The prosody with which the student of Latin first becomes familiar—that of the Augustan and Silver•-Age poets—was irol.ably highly artificial, and in a measure distinct from even the most culture 1 pronunciation of the language. If we want to know ho v the Romans talked, both as to words and the emphasis on words, we must probably go to the Comic writers. Metro, or rather, we should say, melody, it is almost impossible, at least for our ears, to detect, except in a few passages where the writer evidently studied it. Mr. Papillon discusses the theories of contraction, aphaTesis (or the dropping of syllables or letters in pronunciation), and neglected posi- tion, by which is meant the retaining of the quantity of syllables natu- rally snort, even though they come before two consonants. This last theory Ritse'd has enlarged by the addition of what he calls " neglect of final soon la." The student should certainly consult Mr. Papillou's lucid summary of the subject.
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