4 idea." Thus Cicero obferves, "that Ceres derived her name from bearing corn, as it were Geres, the initial letter being changed by accident, as among the Græcians; for fhe was called Demeter, as it were Gemeter by them'." I have already mentioned in my Preliminary Effay the great veneration paid to this Pagan Goddefs, in gratitude for her communication of the imparted bleffing of the gift of corn to Mankind: But we may here add the authority of Diodorus Siculus, "that as the Author of the greatest benefits, she received the most distinguished honours, facrifices, festivals, and folemnities not only among all the Græcians, but among almost all the Barbarians, who participated of this nourishing food "." Thus Ovid, Prima Ceres unco glebas dimovit aratro ; Prima dedit fruges, alimentaque mitia terris. (Met. 1. 5. v. 342.) * Τὲς ἀνθρώπες τὴν γῆν Δήμηξαν νομίζειν· καθόλε γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρχαίων ποιητῶν καὶ μυθογράφων τὴν Δημηραν γῆν μητέρα προσαγορεύεσθαι σύμφωνα δὲ τέτοις εἶναι τὰ το δηλόμενα διὰ τῶν Ὀρφικῶν ποιημάτων, καὶ τὰ παρεισαγόμενα κατὰ τὰς τελιλάς. (L. 3. c. 62. Id. p. 231.) 3 Mater autem eft à gerendis frugibus Ceres, tamquam Geres; cafuque prima littera itidem immutata, ut à Græcis; nam ab illis quoque Anμning, quafi Fung, nominata eft. (De Nat. Deor. 1. 2. c. 27.) Tum fi eft Ceres à gerendo (ita enim dicebas) Terra ipfa Dea eft, & ita habetur; quæ est enim alia Tellus ? (Id. 1. 3. c. 20.) 4 P. 282. 5. Μεγίσων γὰρ ἀνθρώποις ἀγαθῶν αἰτίαν γενομένην ἐπιφανεσάτων τυχεῖν καὶ θυσιῶν ἔτι δ' ἱοριῶν καὶ πανηγύρεων μεγαλοπρεπεσάτων, επαρ ̓ Ἕλλησι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ πᾶσι σχεδον τοῖς Βαρβάροις, ὅσοι τῆς τροφῆς ταύτης ἐκοινώνησαν. (L. 5. c. 68. Ed. Weffelin. vol. 1. p. 385.) No XI. Verfe 327. Οὔτ ̓ ἄνευ τέτων νοσεῖς. Thy deep malady 349. No medicines, fave thefe, have pow'r to heal. 4 THIS paffage is certainly intricate. According to the verfion of Brodæus ', Barnes, and Reifke3, Tirefias afferts to Pentheus, that he was not difordered without the opportunity of a remedy, as he had himself already suggested the proper relief to his infanity: But Heath with more judg ment obferves, "that the word paguana in the preceding line fignifies not only medicines and poisons, but every fpecies of charms and inchantments: And therefore Tirefias here infinuates to Pentheus, that he was fascinated by the anger of Bacchus, and had begun to give marks of infanity:" Dr. Mufgrave' alfo correfponds to this idea in his interpretation. I prefer the opinion of these last-mentioned Criticks to that of the former; nor can I adopt the Nos enim ægritudinis animni tui remedia omnia fuggeffimus. (In Eurip, Annot. p. 54-) 2 Neque tamen fine hifce remediis tibi oblatis jam animo æger es. 3 Neque proptereà infanis, quia his medicamentis cares. (Ad Eurip, Animad. p. 104.) 4 Tà Capuana enim non medicamenta folum aut venena denotant, fed præterea omne genus veneficiorum incantamentorum et fafcinationum: Dicit igitur Tirefias Pentheum jam tunc a Baccho irato fafcinatum et mente captuin iratum occœpifle. (Not. in Eurip. p. 109.) 5 Neque nunc, extrà vim eorum, animo ægrotas; Significat mentem ipsi pharmacis efle corruptam, unneceffary unneceffary alteration of voσsis into vools, fuggefted by Scaliger, which the English Tranflator feems to have followed. N° XII. Verfe 367. Πενθεὺς δ ̓ ὅπως μὴ πένθος εἰσοίσει δόμοις. THE English Reader, in order to understand this paffage, must be informed, that the name of Pentheus, in the Græcian Language, is nearly fynonymous with wevbos, penthos, implying grief: Here therefore Tirefias plays upon the word, and infinuates, "that Pentheus may occafion grief to the family of Cadmus:" Thus Bacchus afferts in the fequel of the Play, in allufion to the fame witticism, Ἐνδυςυχῆσαι τὄνομ ̓ ἐπιτήδειος 7. (V. 508.) Thy name is rightly ominous of grief. (V. 547.) This ludicrous cuftom of analyzing the proper names of perfons, and deriving ominous inferences from their different fignifications in their state of analyfis, appears to have prevailed among the Græcian Poets of the first reputation; and is one of those very uncommon inftances of a falfe fpecies of wit or of a vitiated tafte, which can be fairly imputed to their enlightened and elegant Minds: This name of Pentheus, if we recollect his unfortunate catastrophe, was extremely open to this fpecies of prevailing humour: And Theocritus has fallen into the fame fnare of temptation with our Poet: Neque tamen fine his remediis ad fanam mentem reduceris. (Cited from the Note of Barnes.) E Εξ όρεος πένθημα, καὶ ἐ Πενθήα φέρεσαι. (Idyll. 26. v. 34.) And grief, not Pentheus, from the mountain brought. Thus alfo Nonnus, Σοὶ τάχα μᾶλλον ἔθεντο τρομάντιες ἄνομα μοίρης I (Dionyfiaca, 1. 46. p. 780. Ed. Falken. 1569.) There is alfo a line of Chæremon, where the fame witticifm occurs: Πενθεὺς ἐσομένης συμφορᾶς ἐπώνυμος *. But we may trace perhaps, even from Homer himself, the antiquity of this mixed fpecies of false wit; for we find in the Odyffey, Η τάχα Ἶρος ἄιρος ἐπίσπαςον κακὸν ἕξει. Irus alafs fhall Irus be no more, (L. 18. v. 72.) Black fate impends, and this the avenging hour! (Pope, Odyff. B. 18. v. 82.) Though this paffage has been differently understood, as I am inclined to think that we should read Moipai, Fata.. 2 This line is cited from the Commentary of Columna on the Fragments of Ennius in his edition of them, printed at Naples in 1590. (p. 370.) But he does not ther inform us, where it originally occurs: Athenæus twice mentions Charemon, as a Tragick Writer. (L. 1. c. 1. & L. 11. c. 2.) appears appears from Hefychius 3 and Eustatius, I am fatisfied in my own mind; that a collufion on the words was intended; for Homer has himself given us, in the commencement of this Odyffey, the reafon of the appellation of Irus: Ἶρον δὲ νέοι κίκλησκον ἅπαντες, Οἵνεκ' ἀπαίγέλλεσκε κιων, ὅτε πέ τις ανώγοι. But Irus his Affociates call'd the Boy, (L. 18. v. 7.) (Pope. Odyff. B. 18. v. 11.) And the English Commentator in his Note on the Translation of our English Poet has this fenfible remark: "I confess I wish Homer had omitted these little collufions of words; he sports with Igos igos: It is a low conceit, alluding to the derivation Ἶρος ἄιρος of Irus, and means, that he fhall never more be a Meffenger:" But Homer is feldom, if ever befides, guilty of this forced 3 Στρος ἄκρος, ὁ ἀτυχής Ιρος. (Vox Ιρος.) 4 Ταυτὸν τῷ Ιρος κακόιρος καθ ̓ ὁμοιότητα το κακοΐλιον ἐκ ὀνομασήν· καὶ τῷ ὕπνος ἄύπνος παρὰ Σοφοκλεῖ καὶ τῶν ὁμοίων· Η κὶ ἄλλως ἄιρος, ὁ μηκέτι ἐσόμενος προς, ἀλλὰ τεθνηξόμενος : This latt fenfe of Euftathius appears to correfpond with the idea of an intended play on the words. 5 See the Note on Odyssey, B. 18. v. 82. The expreffion of Atomagis, applied to Paris in the third Iliad by Hector (v. 39.) and that of xaxofon to Troy in the nineteenth Odyfley (v. 260.) allude only to the misfortunes produced by them, aud not to any inaufpicious idea derived from their names: Thus Euftathius in his comment on the former obferves, that the title of Auonapis is the fame, as that of Alvómagte in Euripides, or that of Avoin; and that Alcman united in one line both the titles of Δύσπαρις & Αἰγόπαρις, and fome other Poet ufed the expreffion of Aiven: And thus Ilion was called xaxofasov, not because there was any thing ill-omoned in the appellation, but because it ought not to be mentioned. Δύσα |