New-York daily tribune., 1843-06-30
THE TRTBUN

A DICTIONARY OF GREEK AND RoM.S AHTlerITIEs'
Edited by WILLIAM SMITH. First American an E1itto. 1ia
by CHALEs ASTHoS. Harper x Brothers, o Ci'''
We have mentioned inside, in brief paragraph
the publication of this important work, ana nave
there spoken generally Of its merits. n''t We
should do injustice to our sense oi iis '.i'''i'
superiority to every previous WORK Oh S,"n''
character did we not add to our commentator
come more definite indication oil It's character
and worth. No student of Classical AMBIGUITY
can have failed to deplore the dry worthlessness'
tho almost complete uselessness of the Complla-
,;o,s or POTTER and ADAMs--the only works
generally accessible to students protesting to give
an nsioht into this most interesting and lmpor-
,ant department of study. Even if they had been
,olerably accurate at the time they were written,
tbe subsequent discoveries of German scholars
would have made them almost worthless The
abors of NIEBUHR, for instance, one Of the
abest and profoundest scholars OF any age, IN
exploring the history and political relations of
antiquity have, within the last quarter of a
century, placed these points in an entirely differ
eat light; and the gigantic researches of BocEr,
MULLER, HERMANN in the branches of the Phi
)osophy and Political Economy of the Ancients
have thrown blaze Of light on the internal
poGtv of those renowned nations which renders
acknowledge formerly possessed most feeble and
Incomplete. The subject Of Roman Law, one of
the most interesting and important branches of
ancient scholarship, has been made infinitely
borc -b,-t tIIix pi
sAwGyy and others; while the subject of Attic
Lava knowledge of which is so absolutely cs-
sential to an understanding of the great Greek
orators-has received much eucidation from the
Investigations Of German scholars within the last
half century. Ancient Art, in the same way, has
been made to glow with new life by the genius of
LEssING, WMcELEMANN, ScnELLING and others ;
and the recent discoveries in the ruins Of Pompeii
and Hercuaneum have illustrated the private life
and domestic habits of the Ancients to amost Won
derlul and gratifying degree.
OF all these discoveries absolutely unknown TO
previous compilers, the Editors Of this new Die
tionary have availed themselves to the fullest ex-
tent and have thus added a value to the work
which can only be properly appreciated by those
who have had some personal experience of the dc
iects of previous books. We have not the slight
est hesitation in heeu,ng that, ti;c account
alone, the present work will at once supersede all
others in all the colleges, universities and higher
schools of the country. Original sources of in
formation have been closely and diligently exam
med and all the contributions of both ancient and
modern writers, have been freely used in its COM
paton. The articles IN each department have
sen prepared by distinguished scholars eminent
Equalifed by their especial researches into those
Particular branches entrusted to their care and the
whole is enriched with the most copious refcrcn-
ces and illustrations. The alphabetical arrange
ment is adopted throughout as the one best adapt
ed 10 the wants of Students and great variety
oi subjects, not usually touched upon in similar
works, have been introduced. Each subject is
illustrated by neatly engraved and accurately dc
agned outline cuts which must add greatly to
| the value of the work.
| The American editor has added greatly to the
worth Of the Dictionary, as ne does to everything
mat he undertakes by adding great number of
ahcles on the Botany, Mineralogy and Zoology
dIthe Ancients, and by appending to the voume
an Index RaisonnG, in which the whole subject is
Classified under appropriate heads. Some nohcn
may be formed of the comprehenslveness Of the
work, when it is understood that 1t comprises
more than eleven hundred large octave pages.
Nned on small but clear type and IN double
4 columns