Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-11-19
NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.

MANUAL or GREEK LITERATURE, from the Ear est Au-
thenc Periods to the Close Of the Byzantine Eia BY
CHARLES ASrRos, LID, Sc. New Yorks Harper 8
Brothers; 1853
The literary history of France records many an
anccdote which commentaries the wit and humor
of the facetous Piron but none better than he fol-
lowing: On certain occasion Voltaire vas read
ing new play of his, the Sen,irumis, to crcle OF
auditors, among whom was this prince Of wagS The
tragedy contained good many verses adroltly pur-
Joined from Corneille and Racine. Every time one
of these came from the lips Of Volaire, Pironmade
very low bow, with the greatest possible serious
ness. At last Voltaire, out of patience and OBJ
serving hooking smile on every bodys lips, asked
Piron the reason of his bowling. The Burg,ndan
poet Immediately replied, without any app arance
of generalization, Keep on, Monsieur, dol tmind
me it is only custom OF mine always salute
my acquaintance" .Semiramis was plsJ 81 some
time afterwards, bat with very little sucocss Vol
taire meeting Pircn in the lobby of the theatre,
asked him what he thought of his tragedy noE ~
think you would Ike very well for me to be the
author Of it, politely replied the wag, at tho same
time bowling himself out of the apartment
Now, if our politeness was any thing like that of
the merry Burgundian, we should have found fire.
quent occasions for its exercise in the petsal of
DR.. ANTHoN's Manual of Greek Literature" In
deed, we have been surprised to find how many OF
our acquaintance the Doctor has succeeded in
crowding within so small space 1t is tue we
sometimes find them little disguised, and occupy
ing positions in which we had never expected to
meet them; still it should do us good to recognise
their old and familiar faces and if of friends and
the pleasure they impart the rife is "the more
the merrier," then, indeed, shopld we De constran
cd to 60 into exstacies over DR.. Anthons book
But it is all the pleasure mght have derived from
meeting old friends is mGred by the inhospitaty
with which their host treats hem before our very eyes
The poet Marve in his 9icature of Holland delivers
himself of rather forcedllusion to the aquatic life and
aintes of its inhabtars by saying that the fish ap-
pears at the board of Iollander
"-a guest, not as a meat;'
but the witty the picture by declaring that
the natives of this land that rides at anchor"
"-fed, like cannibals on other fishes,
And seru their cousins german up in dishes"
1t seems to usthat Dr. Anthem has been guilty Of kind
of literary csnibasm in his treatment of good many
of our acquintances for, instead of meeting them as
guests at tie banquet to which lie invites u.s. find that
they actually compose all the meat that to be on
the tabb; and though they to be scientifically
skewere roasted and deved have nevertheless found
it impossible to excite very keen appetite for the Doc
tors lands, these friends Of ours, that is.
Tochange our sime the present work is the most per-
feet specimen of the literary mosaic which has fallen
under observation Visitors to the Crystal Palace in
New York have doubt not, all been detained to ad
mre the curousy naid tables exhibition in the Ita
ian department. and in gazing their polished surfaces
have wondered the labor and skill which, by the
less uxaposton of ten thousand pieces of parcoored
WOOD represent landscapes and battle scenes with
almost much dstnctness and vydness if the colors
had been laid on from the pencil of the painter. Dr.
ARthons present work occupies the place in tera
ture as these naid tables in art is miracle of Jesse
laton, but it is nothing more
Doctor Anthem does make any secret of his obliga
tons in compiling the volume before u.s. andwe therefore
are by means disposed to taunt him with plagiarism.
In his preface he than hints at the rich materials
which have been obtained from the stores of German
don and others of less value from the productions
Of Donaldson, Pritchard, Winning and Mure among Eng
fish scholars. The earlier part Of the work, learn
"is based great upon the admirable his
tory of Greek Literature by c. o. Muller, End upon tn,
labors of Mure and Jhne. The biographical sketches
are taken for the most part from the excellent Die
tionary Of Greek and Roman biography edited by DR.
Smith" "Valuable materials have also been obtainet
from Clinton, Sch0 Bernhardy, Bode and many Others
Of the most eminent European scholars" What there il
Of his in this book, with its FIVE hundred and eighty
pages, Dr. Anthem is not accommodating inform
US, though from pretty extended inspection should
judge that all the original matter is comprised in the pre-
face at the beginning and in the index the end 1t il
possible there may be something besides extracts in
the body of the work but much which at first
peced Of being Dr. Anthon's has turned out further
examination, to be somebody ese's that we begin tc
doubt If the distinguished author used any thing
than his scissors in the composition of this book
This is not the first time, believe that Dr. Anthem
has honored the abors Of others by aterpg notice il
his preface and their incorporation in the body Of his
books few years ago he published edition Of the
Germdna and geold Of Tacitus, which proved to be
nothing than translation of German edition Of
the same classic by one Dr. Bilerbeck with few sub
sdiary interpretations from other An examina
ton Of Cceros De Seneetute De Amicitio &C., pub
lished by DR.. A., will elucdate what he means BY
basins" work upon that Of a preceding author for
this work purported to be CHASED on one Of Dr. Smith
but every body else thought II copied entire If oil
property like Of DR. Anthons literary property
we would not dare for moment to contest Monsieur
Proudhons proposition, ola propri<t<, cest h vol"
The number Of the books which Dr. Anthem has sent
from the press would alone be sufficient create
picon in the minds Of thinking men that they not
the product Of very mature wedgested scholarship
To do SO much and yet do it well is clearly beyond the
compass Of any scholar who has hgh-mnded conception
OF what y meant BY authorship, and who is too proud "a
retail at secondhand the ideas Of Others however dis
tnguished In our younger days, and before we had
come to understand that books were sometimes made
with quite as little wisdom II required to govern the
world according to the idea Of the old Swedish Chancc
Tor, wont to fancy that the learned author Of SC
many books, from the First Latin Lessons to the pom