The Sun.
London, England, 1824-07-07 00:00:00

LITERARY NOTICE.

The AGAMEMNON of ASCHYLUS. Translated by

Jonx Sirstmoxs, Esq. A. M. Ism Student of Christ
Chunk. ( Contiausd.)
in our last notice of this masterly work, we
promised to submit to our more learned raaders
some of the notes that are attached to the passage
which we then extracted ;--notes with which we
were ourselves much struck; and which, as we

feel assured, every accomplished scholar will
peruse with particular gratification• That per.
tion of these notes to which we especially allude,
Is appended to line 8 of our last citation—

"Standing sublime, the seas to overcast,
" Shone the great strength of the transmitted lamp,"
and is distinguished by two most happy emen-
dations: one of them proposed to us with pecu-
liar modesty, though,; iving as it does, a verb to
ii sentetfee which requires a-verb, and substanti-

sting sense for nonsense, we conceive it to be
unquestionably right ; and the other thrown off
by our critic incidentally and carelessly, and as
if it were a thing of no importance, though it
carries with it the irrefragable evidence of truth,
and is, in fact, a correction of the greatest mag-
nitude. The first of these offered emendations,

is T:TocrrivurEy, for roc rho' 7 in Clytetnnestra's
speech, the translation of which we cited ; and
the second is, 6;ipxxvsi tr,nce, for 'SoiJ XV/V,E.pl,
in line 984 of the Supplices. The last, indeed,
of these connections we have heard ascribed to
the happy pen of PORSON; but as it has never
occurred to us, and as we have looked for it in
vain in that great critic's works, we must refer it

to I\lr. Sithotoms as its author, till his title to it
can be legally disproved. Let us now, however,
cite Mr. S.'s very able note on the subject, as no
man can tell his own story with more power and
pespicuity than himself.

"So I have rendered this fine passage literally. Nothing
can present a finer image than the original does of the beacon
blazing on Mount Athos, and with its splendour covering the
back of the sea. Potter, following a faulty reading, introduces
the Hellespont; whereas the word which he understood as

' Hellespont,' signifies the rising of the beacon over the
sea. He has also made 'smiling way' out of or 716%0Y1v)
in which he has been much more ingenious than myself, for I
can make nothing nut of it, and 1 am persuaded that it is a
corruption. 11;00S. 7)60'17iv is a colloquial phrase, used ad-

verbially, very common in Greek writers, prose and verse

and in the familiar interchange of conversation it is naturally
joined with loyoc, Aeyw, swat, or ysys.,Aat.
-o°)liV then is agreeably,' or, for the purpose of pleasing, as
the French, say h faire orm, is 6 angrily
irpo; gUCrafSaY X 0,07) Air; is, the girl speaks piously.'
In Lucian's Toxaris, 7.rpoc ctxhaorct pot) axovo7c,
listen to me without irritation.' But not'only the misappli-
cation of such a phrase in a passage like this, but the defec-
tiveness of the sentence points out some error in the copies, for
a verb is evidently wanting to complete the sentence ; and Dr.
Dlotntield's ellipsis of eycvz-ro after vire,rrektjf is much too
harsh and arbitrary. A verb should occupy the place of Irc 2;
rieerrirl in room of which I should be much inclined, as a
mere conjecture, to propose IrPocrlivu'rEY from Hesychius, v.
Ilpocravtuy, irpocravEcov, (EV:NV yap "(1)Y =Ey; cro
(so Is. Vossius reads for the faulty au T7v)• Here is autho-
rity from a tragic Lexicon for the word ; for if IrPO7CLVW
ttvw avucv and arum) being
existed, so did irpocravy'reur
all cognate forms. 'Avvrcu (elliptically for assort./ c49v)
is of very frequent occurrence in the Attic writers. Eur. Hipp.
745. Er.l IA#061"010Y CCY-DCZY vw craiAi TUJY aotawr.
Aristoph. Av. 241. Ayucrars tiro,t.L.fra TEarvre,,
(but without the ellipsis) in Phcen. 161. 'A'sitt.ucEor
Spoikor recluXas llociv *owcratp..l asespoc hoc si.cor
opoyme.ropce. Render it to hasten, to dispatch a journey
ilpoGrctv vret "tiould have tke same -settle, with whom
ever additional force, significative of increase or addition, the
proposition Trpos might give it. The torch journeyed on
waxing greater.' rhis is certainly a mere conjecture, and as
such not to be admitted into the text; but its sense seems appo-
site, and its usage is supported by Hesychius. Rarity of oc-
currence is not in itself an insuperable objection in a language
so diversified, and so little known to us from the scantiness of
its remains. How many words occur, even in this one play,
which are to be found only once ! see the many words marked
with asteriscs in Dr. Blomfield's Glossary which are to be
found only in ./Eschylus, and some but once. The epithet
aopocarrir, for example, is unknown to Lexicons, and, I
believe, to the existing texts of Greek authors; yet that woul
must re-assume its place,being resuscitated from a line of fEell.
Suppl. 904. 1\177r. our askitrwc eofv.w.avoi µop.) eccraw,
instead of the corrupt lections of Add. and Rob. and Turr..
Sopv xaniksp."
The three succeeding notes, affixed by the
translator to this speech of CLYTIDINESTRA, are
learned, correct, and entertaining. But we must
leave them to be read in the work itself.
When we next resume our pen on this interest-
ing production, we shall lay before our readers
some specimens of our Author's lyrical composi-
tion, with which we have already professed our-
selves to be more pleased than with his execution
of the dialogue part of the drama.

FEROCITY OF BANDITTI:-.-011 the 27th May
the village of Pistirzo, near to Profsedi, about
eight miles distant from ROMP, was suddenly
assailed by 35 most daring banditti. It being
Ascension-day, the whole of the inhabitants
(some 300 souls) were at church. The robbers
repaired to the church, asserting, however, that
all they wanted was the Government Bailiff.--
This unfortunate individual, who was ,at his de..
votionv, fled to the interior of the steeple for
safety. The miscreants, however, pursued him
thither, and shot him dead. They then, with a
perfectly savage cruelty, tore out his heart from
his body ere it was yet cold ! Hence, this Corn.
mune will be the first to pay the amercement of
500 scudi, according to the late decree of Car.
dinal PALLOTTA.