Star.
London, England, 1824-03-11 00:00:00

.4

'History of Roman Literature, from, its Earliest Period
to the Augustine Age. By Joan DUNLOP, Esq. Two
vols. Bvo.
For these volumes we .are indebted to the author of
- the History of Fiction—i work deservedly well received
by the Public. The principal aim of the present per--
formarice is to give a connected view of the ltise, Pro-
gress, and Declines of Roman Literature. The au-
thor divides his subject into three great ages—that
which passed preceding Augustus—the Augustan age
the time that passed from•the death of Augustus
to the removal of the seat of Empire to Constantinople;
hut the two volumes now published ate confined to the
first of these, and whether the others will appear is to
depend on the reception these may meet with.---The
work commences with the Etruscan origin of Roman
Literature (which -aPpears to have bad no existence be-
fore the Gth century after the founding of Rome) and
a short sketch of the origin and formation of the Latin
I.t ,gnage. The author proposes to bring before his
re .dens all that is known of the history of each_ writer's
works, and of their influence on the age that produced
them, and to examine the works themselves in critical
detail :—what an undertaking ! As a specimenwe pre.
sent our Readers with the following extract from his
account cf Plautus:
" The parasites of Plautus would be almost as de-
serving a dissertation- as the clowns of Shakspeare.—
Parasite, as is well-known, was a name originally ap-
plied in Greece to persons devoted to the service of the
Gods, and who were appointed for the keeping-of the
sacred provisions of tire temples. Diodorus of Sinope,
as quoted by Athenmus, after speaking of the dignity
of the sacred parasites of Hercules, mentions that the
rich, in emulation of this demi-god, chose as followers
per sun called parasites, who were not selected for their
virtues .or talents, but were remarkable for extrava-
gant flattery to their superiors, and insolence to those
inferiors who, approached. Abe persons. of their mas-
ters. This was the character islsich came to be repre-'
sented on the stage. We learn from Athenaus, that
a parasite was introduced in one of his plays by Epi-
charmus, the founder of the Greek Comedy. The pa-
rasite of this ancient dramatist lay at the feet of the rich,
eat the offal of their table, and-drank the dregs of their
cups. lie speaks of himself as of a person ever ready
to dine abroad when invited, and when any one was to
be married, to go to his house without an invitation—
to pay for his good cheer by exciting the mertinient of
'the compans, and to retire as soon as he had eat and
drank sufficiently,without caring whetherhe was lighted
out by the slaves. In the most' ancient comedies, how-
ever, this character was not denominated parasite, and
was first so called in a play of Araros, the son of
Aristophanes, and one of the earliest authofs of the
middle comedy.
Antiphanes, a dramatist cf the same class, has given
a very full description of the vocation of a parasite. The
part, however, did nut become extremely common till
the introduction of the new comedy, one of the writers
of which, Diphilus, Whose works were frequently imi-
tated on the Roman stage, particularly excelled in his
delineation of the parasitical character. In the Greek
theatre, the part was usually represented by young men,
dressed in a black or brown garb, and wearing masks,
expressive of malignant gaiety. They carried a goblet
suspended round their waists,- probably lest the slaves
of their. patrons should fill to them in too small cups ;
and also a phial of oil to be used at the bath, which was
a necessary preparation before-sitting down to table, for
which the parasite required to hi always ready at a mo-
ment's warning.
a' It was thus too, that the character was represented
on the Roman stage; and it would farther appear that
the parasites, in the days of Plautus, carried with them
a sort of 'Joe Miller,' as a manual of wit, with which'
they occasionally refreshed their vivacity.
The parasite naturally became a leading character
of the Roman stage. In spite of the pride and boasted
national independence of its citizens, the whole system
of manners at Rome was parasitical. The connection
between patron and client, which" was originally the
cordial intercourse of reciprocal services, soon becairre
that of haughty superiority on the one side, and sordid'
adulation on the other. Every client was the parasite
of some Tatrician, whose litter he often followed like a
slave, conforming to all his caprices, and submitting to
all his insults, for the privilege of being placed at the
lowest seat of the patrons table, and there repaying this
indelicate hospitality by the most servile flattery. On
the stage, the pr incipal use of the parasite was to bring
out the other characters from the canvas. Without
Gnatho, the Thiaso of Terence would have possessed
less confidence; and without his flatterer, Pyrgopoli-
nices' would never have recollected breaking an ele-
phant's thigh by, a blow of his fist...
• WHITE COPPER. •
A rather curious article on this subject appears in the
last. Number of the Philosophical Magazine, translated
from a German Journal.
For a considerable period white copper has been made.
and manufactured at Sulil, in the Henneberg country,
and •the neighbouring places, particularly for the mount-
ing of guns or firelocks, but likewise for ether purposes,
as for spurs and the like. This metal strongly resembles
silver, 'even to deception, keeps excellently without tar-
- nishing, has the colour of silver on the touch-stone, is
not brittle, but on the contrary extremely malleable,
. contains no arsenic like the metallic compound.usually
called white copper; and is therefore very useful in the
manufactories at Suhl.
This metal exists in small globules, in masses that ap-
. pear to be the slags of antient copper-a oils; but is now
becoming very scarce. As some of our Readers may
wish to form the article by composition, we here girt
au analysis of its ore, able!' are—
Capper - 88'000
Nickel 8.753
Sulphur, with a little Antimony 0'750
Stiles, clay, and iron 1.750
In its pure state, then, this ore may be considered as
nothing-but an alloy
-of copper and nickel ; but nickel
in Its puce state is eteeedingly difficult of fusion. We
think, however, that the vsrlue of this alloy being epee
made known to our workmen, they will soon find means
to join the two metals on tire large scale.
lPosuicans---BitzwLus--Bzza.--From official Ex-
cite-office returns, just fur nished, by order of the House
itSf Commons, it appears that every man, woman, and
child in London, drinks on thiaVerase two barrels of
beer a year. The account only refers to beer brewed
by common brewers.

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