New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-05-15

-,e1o
'-ro,onc for an unimpassioned statement OF
o.. Neither imagination nor rhetoric ever gets
-. hotter OF this clear-eyed observer. We may
10 an illustration from his pages on the Par
.x.,on He says: All the figures In the gable
tho entrance TO the temple called the Par
.,,ron relate to the birth OF Athena The back
Nil contains the strife Of Poseidon with
.,h.na for the possession of the land. The
,n.ee Itself is made Of ivory and gold Its
h.,met is surm ounted In the middle by a figure
go sphinx q will tell the story Of the sphinx
mon come TO treat Of Bpoua) and on either
"A. Of the helmet are grtfns wrought in relief.
,1steas Of Proconnesus says In his poem that
,,sse crifIns fight for the gold with the Arimas =
nl.ns who dwell beyond the Issedonians. and
that the gold which the grifiins guard is pro-
anced BY the earth. He says too. that the
Arimaspians all one-eyed men from birth.
and that the griffins are beasts like lions bu,
With the wings and bcak Of an eagle. SO much
for the gririns" The last five words char
.cttristic and prove what we have said about
Ms Indifference to the lures of rhetoric
ar Imagination Discursive ne Is. ne
also well knows when to stop so much
for the grifins." he says. and depicts himself TO
The life repeating a belief Of the day with will
mgness and respect, but steering away from
what IN his heart ne feels to be specious topic
nus Pausanlas by these touches at once scept-
eal and oompiaisant placates the modern sense
Of what Is reasonable, and yet preserves the
atmosphere Of fidelity to ancient ideas without
which his Description" would lack the true
aspect Of life. The image itself Ii made OF
ivory and gold" The words. taken with all that
pausanias surrounds them with. arc tasmanic.
and once more In Imagination We tread the
pavement Of the Parthenon.
OF course, for this rehabilitation Of the past
We much 10 MI Frazer. To turn from the
twenty fourth chapter OF Pausaniass first book.
from his Attca to Mr.. Frazer's ts to nll out the
old outlines. 1t would be difficult to even in
Ncate the services Of editor In this direction
His erudition Is inexhaustible. Pausanias
writes abiding to that statue Of Victory which
vas discovered by the Germans at Olympia In
1875 The Dorian Messenians who received
Naupactus from the Athenians. dedicated at
Olympia the image Of Victory that stands on
the pillar 1t is a work OF PRonius Of Aende.
and is made from spells taken from the enemy.
1t the time l think, when they made war on
the Acarnanlans Of Gnad2. But the Messe-
mans themselves say that the Offering u q
trophy Of the battle In which they fought on tho
Athenian side in the island Of Sphacteria, and
that they retrained from inscribing the name
Of the enemy from fear Of the Laced@monians:
for say they. they had no fear Of the Acarna-
mans OF Osniada." Mr.. Frazer throws doubt on
both hypothesis Of Pausanas and advances q
third, which Is certainly plausible. Into is de-
tails We are not concerned to enter. The main
point to be considered Is that In this and q
thousand other cases Mr.. Frazer lghtens coun-
se and gives TO some slight allusion OF Pausa-
alas q new significance, increasing our knowl-
edge Of the point at issue His own style has
many Of the excellent qualities which his au-
thor lacks II Is smooth and rapid. always lucid,
and sometimes not without certain delicate
color OF the system on which the text and
notes have bsen arranged we cannot speak too
highly. 1t IL simple and convenient, no that
be books. although imposing In their bulk when
taken together. are a. easily managed By ths
student though their contents had been
brought within che cover The index. nilins the
Ast volume. Il perfect Our only regret u that
The Illustrations should have been % compare
lively few In number and 80 poorly reproduced
Such admirable presswork has been bestowed
upon the work that the finishing touch Of some
arst-rate reproductive plates and text illustra-
tons would have seemed the most appropriate
tning IN the world. Al II Ii. however this edi-
ton OF Pausanias will be hailed with nothing
less than enthusiasm by every student OF classi-
81 civilization. Although what Mr.. Frazer calls
he mellow autumn OF the ancient world. the
Indian summer with which the life OF Pausanias
Vnchronized. was a time OF sad decline. there
vas abundance left for our cicerone to record
Re vas . contemporary Of Hadrian. He came
b time but Just IN time. He was able to de-
nzdhe the sfafely buildings With which In his