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SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES TO MR. BARKER'S EDITION OF CICERO'S TWO TRACTS.

Sir,

NO. I.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL.

N

In the notice of the new edition of Cicero's two Essays on Old Age, and Friendship, inserted it No. IX. of the Class. Journ., these words occur at the 191st page on c. 2. De Amic. Quomodo enim, ut alia omittam, mortem filii tulit? Memineram Paulum, videram Gallum; sed hi in pueris; Cato in perfecto et spectato viro: "We would suggest to Mr. B. the following passage of Salmasius in his Plin. Exer. in C. J. Solini Polyh. p. 1014. Paris 1629. Dum pullus est, eleganter optimus liber, dum in pullo est, i. e. dum in ætate pulli est: sic Ciceroni Lælio, In pueris esse, in viro esse: memineram Paulum, videram Gallum; sed hi in pueris, Cato in perfecto et spectato viro: ita enim scribendum e libris, ubi vulgo legitur, sed hi nec comparantur Catoni maximo et spectato:' we feel very much inclined to adopt this explanation, but we should be glad to see another instance of the phrase." I am truly obliged to your correspondent for having directed my attention to this important remark of Salmasius, and I doubt not that he will be equally obliged to me for the following quotation from T. Gataker's Comment. on Marc. Antonin. 2d Ed. 1697. p. 7., which not only establishes the manuscript reading in the passage, of which Salmasius is speaking, as well as his conjectural emendation of the Lælius, but proves that the idiom is common to the Greek and the Latin: "Ev Tail, in puerili ætate, Xyland., sive puer cum essem, phrasis insolens, nec illecta tamen: de Maximo Herodian. L. 6. πρότερον μὲν ἐν παιδὶ ποιμαίνων, &c. pro quo Lucian, etiam è sì dixit in Necyomantia, yo yàp axçı μὲν ἐν παισὶν ἦν, quanquam ibi ἐν παισὶν εἶναι potest verti, inter pueros versari, e puerorum numero esse: sed eodem plane modo Philostr. ἐν μειρακίῳ dixit in Hermocrate Sophista, ὡς μηδὲ δάκρυον ἐπ' αὐτῷ τὴν Καλλιστώ ἀφεῖναι ἐν μειρακίῳ ἀποθανόντι, ut nec lacry mam emitteret Callisto ad mortem illius in adolescentia defuncti observavit et Casaub. ad Athenæi 1. 13. c. 8. Tò πais pro λxía Taidi usurpatum ab Hermesianacte Colophonio in Elegia illa, quam in Leontium meretriculam composuit, ubi inter alia de Hesiodo,

66

πόλλ' ἔμαθεν, πάσας δὲ λέγων ἀνεγράψατο βίβλους

ὕμνων, ἐκ πρώτης παιδὸς ἀνερχόμενος,

et in Praxinoe apud Theocr. Idyll. 15.

ἵππον καὶ τὸν ψυχρὸν ὄφιν τὰ μάλιστα δεδοίκω
ἐκ παιδός.

It is, however, to be observed, that the passages from Lucian,
Athenæus, and Theocritus are ἀπροσδιόνυσα, οὐδὲν εἰς δέον.

I shall take the present opportunity of making a few, I had almost said, valuable additions to my Critical and Explanatory Notes, which, as they contain some curious information, which has been overlooked by the editors of these tracts, will, I hope, be interesting to the more learned portion of your readers. De Senect. c. 15. Venio' nunc ad voluptates agricolarum, quibus ego incredibiliter delector; quæ nec nulla impediuntur senectute, et mihi ad sapientis vitam proxime videntur accedere; habent enim rationem cum terra, quæ nunquam recusat imperium, nec unquam sine usura reddit, quod accepit; sed alias minore, plerumque majore cum fænore.

When Pittacus was once asked what is the most faithful? He replied the earth: when he was asked what is the most faithless? He replied the sea. Hence Virgil says in his Georgics 2. v. 460.

Fundit humo facilem victum justissima tellus :

And Menander v Tegye in Stobæus Tit. LVII. (quoted in Toup's
Emendations of Suidas, Vol. 11. p. 455. Edit. of 1790) says:

ἀγρὸν εὐσεβέστερον γεωργεῖν οὐδένα
οἶμαι· φέρει γὰρ ὅσα θεοῖς ἄνθη καλὰ,
κίττον, δάφνην· κρίθας τ', ἐὰν σπείρω, πάνω
δίκαιος ἀπέδωκεν, ὁπόσας ἂν καταβάλω :

Heyne says upon the passage of Virgil: "Justissima, quia creditum reddere terra, acceptum referre dicitur, eique fides, foenus,

1 The scholar, who has so elaborately reviewed my edition of these Tracts in the Gent. Mag. for May, 1812, and to whom I have replied in the subsequent No., at the 444th page, writes thus: "We strongly recommend to the perusal of every scholar Mr. B.'s excellent remarks upon this passage: we trace in them, however, (and where do we not in modern writing?) a little plagiarism." I should feel myself greatly obliged to the author for the honorable mention of this note, had he not qualified his praise by charging me in it with plagiarism of which he has given no proof: I must here beg his leave to give to him a flat denial of the supposed fact, and, if he is disposed to quarrel with me for this freedom, he will no doubt be pleased to pardon it on the account of youth, which, notwithstanding the celebrated speech of the late Lord Chatham, seems to be still considered in the eyes of some people, not to say some scholars, who belong to the ancient order of the ßaunwywves gopioral, as an atrocious crime: I wish scholars to consider not my youth, or my insignificance, but my arguments: those, who are in the habit of reading my articles in the Classical Journal, will best know how to appreciate the charge of youthful arrogance, of which he complains in that review. No scholar can be more unjustly charged with plagiarism than myself; for I invariably cite the observations of critics, whom I quote, at full length, and in their own words, and I challenge the reviewer to show a single instance, where I have taken any quotation or idea without acknowledgment,

æquitas tribuitur: sublectum esse hoc Menandro statuebat doctus Britannus cum in Fragmentis sit :

δικαιότατον κτῆμ ̓ ἐστιν ἀνθρώποις ἀγρὸς,
ὧν ἡ φύσις δεῖται γὰρ, ἐπιμελῶς φέρει,
πύρους, ἐλαῖον, οἶνον, ἰσχάδας, μέλι·
τάδ' ἀργυρώματ ̓ ἐστὶν, ἡδε πορφύρα,

εἰς τοὺς τραγώδους εὔθετ ̓, οὐκ ἐς τὸν βίον :

saltem bene convenit: γηίδιον δικαιότατον etiam Xenophon dixit Cyrop. VIII. p. 468.:" Cicero says here: quæ-mihi ad sapientis vitam proxime videntur accedere; habent enim rationem cum terra. But why does Cicero say that this circumstance makes these pleasures more congenial to the philosopher? Melmoth turns the words thus: "These are pleasures perfectly consistent with every degree of advanced years, as they approach the nearest of all others to those of the purely philosophical kind: they are derived from observing the nature and properties of this our earth." These pleasures appear to me, as far as I understand the words of Cicero, to be the most congenial to the [moral] philosopher from the circumstance that they depend upon justissima tellus: Cicero supposes that the agricultural philosopher, who uniformly directs his conduct by the laws of justice, must be highly delighted by the thought that he cannot fail to receive from mother earth, with whom he is concerned, that justice, of which he can seldom example among the human race. Xenophon says in his Economics, v. 12. (quoted in Toup's Emendations of Suidas V. 1. P. 285.) ἔτι δὲ ἡ γῆ θέλουσα τοὺς δυναμένους καταμανθάνειν καὶ δικαιοσύνην διδάσκει· τοὺς γὰρ ἄριστα θεραπεύοντας αὐτὴν πλεῖστα ἀγαθὰ TITO. Cicero says in his Defence of Sextius Roscius: "Vita -hæc rustica, quam tu agrestem vocas, parsimoniæ, diligentiæ, justitiæ magistra est." E. Spanheim in his Obs. in Callim. Ultrajecti 1697. p. 681. has the following note: "TpTTÓREMOS Τριπτόλεμος ἀγαθὰν ἐδιδάσκετο τέχναν : haud mirum vero ἀγαθὴν τέχνην de agricultura hic dici, et unde lemma in Stobxo Serm. LIV. πEpi yewpyias, OT ayatov, ac inter alia illud Menandri ibidem,

find an

ἀφ ̓ ἐστὶν ἀρετῆς καὶ βίου διδάσκαλος

ἐλευθέρου, τοῖς πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις αγρός.”

Habent enim rationem cum terra, quæ nunquam recusat imperium, nec unquam sine usura reddit, quod accepit, sed alias minore, plerumque majore cum fænore. It is a very favorite, and a very elegant, idea of the Greek and the Roman writers to consider the earth in the light of a debtor, as it is here considered; of which I shall produce the following instances:

Spes sulcis credit aratis
Semina, quæ magno fœnore reddat ager,

TIBULLUS, El. vi, L. 2.

Again in 1. 2. El. 111.

At tibi dura seges Nemesin qui abducis ab urbe,

Persolvat nulla semina terra fide,

a passage, cited by A. Schottus in his Nodi Ciceroniani L. 1. c. 8. p. 286., who has the following note upon it: "Repono que abducis, sensu plano; moleste enim fert poeta ruri degere Nemesin, domoque abesse; sterilitatem etiam agro imprecatur." Silius Italicus says in his 13th bk.

Multa solo virtus jam reddere semen aratris, where Dausqueius observes: "Ager Siculus reddere semen dicitur, quasi creditum reposcatur: Modius ingeniose, non necessario foenus reponit: scio eleganter id verbi usitatum Plinio L. 5. c. 4. [Fertilitatis eximia, cum centesima fruge agricolis fanus reddente terra]: quid tum? et altero usus est Martialis,

Non reddet sterilis semina jacta seges."

Manilius, L. v. v. 274. says,

Seminaque in fonus sulcatis reddere terris,
Usuramque sequi majori sorte receptis

Frugibus innumeris, atque horrea quærere messi?

L. Carrio in his Antiq. Lect. Comment. Antv. 1576. p. 87. reads here properly majorem.

I embrace the present occasion of directing the attention of scholars to the emendation of a passage in Pliny's Natural History, founded upon manuscript authority, which is cited, agreeably to the common, and the Bipontine reading, in my edition of these two tracts, p. XLIII.: the emendation, which seems to have escaped the research of editors, is to be found in Junius's most elegant, amusing, sensible, and erudite treatise De Pictura Veterum, bk. 2. c. 4. p. 57. Ed. Roterodami 1694.: “ Quam severe caverint olim Romani, ne scientia rei rusticæ desidia atque incuria tolleretur, docet A. Gellius Noctt. Att. L. 4. c. 12. Si quis agrum suum passus fuerat sordescere, eumque indiligenter curabat, ac neque araverat, neque purgaverat; sive quis arborem suam vineamque habuerat derelictui; non id sine pæna fuit, sed erat opus censorium, censoresque ararium faciebant: Plinius quoque Nat. Hist. L. 18. c. 3. Agrum male colere, censorium probrum judicabatur, atque (ut refert Cato) quem virum bonum colonum dixissent, amplissime laudasse existimabantur: et rursus L. 19. c. 4. Prisci statim faciebant judicium, nequam esse in domo matrem familias, etenim hæc cura feminæ dicebatur, ubi indiligens esset hortus: in vetere codice Vossiano notæ optimæ lego, Prisci statim faciebant judicium, nequam essent domo matrem familias, et enim hæc cura femine ducebatur, nisi indulgens esset ortus: unde locum hunc ita restituendum suspicor, Prisci statim faciebant judicium, nequam esse in domo mairem familias, (etenim hæc cura feminæ ducebatur) nisi indulgens esset hortus: quum

enim in prædicto codice, sicuti et in reliquis codd. antiquis, n et u passim confunduntur, atque u habens i suprascriptum poni solet pro nisi, facili quoque lapsu ubi pro nisi crediderim irrepsisse."

The following important notes of Canter have been entirely overlooked by me :

De Senect. c. 17.

"In quem illud elogium unicum plurima consentiunt gentes, populi primarium fuisse virum: in hoc elogio pro unicum tribus est vocabulis scribendum, Uno ore cui; de quo quanquam dubitare quis merito possit, ita tamen hoc me certum redditurum confido, ut nemo jure dubitare possit amplius: etenim altero de Fin. idem Cicero contra Epicurum disputans, ait postremo; si quidem laudationes virorum præclarorum, tam Græcorum, quam Romanorum, inspiciantur, neminem ita laudatum videri posse, ut artifex callidus comparandarum voluptatum diceretur; hæc enim sunt ejus verba, post quæ statim hæc sequuntur, Non elogia monumentorum id significant, velut hoc ad portam, Uno ore cui plurima consentiunt gentes, populi primarium fuisse virum: quocirca cum idem utrobique cietur elogium, facile patet, utrum ex altero sit emendandum; et quoniam carmen hoc esse tradit orator, possent hinc fortasse duo versus hoc modo effici,

:

Uno ore cui plurimæ consentiunt

Gentes fuisse virum populi primarium :

ceterum an pro cui sit potius quem legendum, viderint alii: hæc vix scripseram, cum prodierunt doctissimæ Caroli Langii in hunc librum annotationes, in quibus conjecturæ nostræ subscribit, et eodem modo atque argumento locum hunc emendat, ut et alios multos nisi quod unum etiam, cujus nunc venit in mentem, omisit; quod enim legitur initio disputationis hujus Videtisne ut apud Homerum sæpissime Nestor de virtutibus suis prædicet? justo prolixiorem habet vocem virtutibus [c. x.] quæ est in viribus mutanda, quemadmodum et Homerus docet, et Gaza vertit: atque hoc ego, quoniam pusillum est, admoniturus non eram, nisi a tanto viro neglectum reperissem." Nov. Lectt. L. VI. c. 10.

De Amic. c. 11.

Quod si rectum statuerimus vel concedere amicis quicquid velint, vel impetrare ab his quicquid velimus, perfecta quidem sapientia simus, si nihil habeat res vitii; ex his verbis non potest commode elici sensus; non enim tam, cui nihil haberet res vitii, perfecta jure diceremur esse sapientia, quam si perfecta essemus sapientia, nihil jure res vitii haberet: quare sic legenda postrema censeo, Perfecta quidem sapientia si simus, nihil habeat res vitii; quam lectionem confirmant etiam hæc sequentia sed loquimur de iis amicis, qui ante oculos sunt, quos videmus, &c. quæ quidem superioribus opponuntur: atque hoc illi geminum est, quod primo de Off. dixit, Quoniam autem vivitur, non cum perfectis hominibus, pleneque

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