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ratio. Non tamen assentio Jano Douzæ, qui in Præcidaneis ad Horat. (2, 16.) Tò I in hujusmodi male corripi putat. Nam ap. Stat. est phalacius ille Silv. 1.

Largis gratuitum cadit rupinis.”

G. J. Vossii Aristarchus p. 104.

"Hæc qui non consideret, facile in quantitate labetur. Ita primam in pituita corripere non dubitabit, quia ap. Horat. sit Ep. 1, 1, (108.)

Præcipue sanus, nisi cum pituita molesta est.

At hic trisyllabum est. Produci vero primam, indicat Catulli hoc ad Furium,

Mucus et mala pituita nasi.

Et Persii istud Sat. 2, (57.)

Somnia pituita qui purgatissima mittunt."

Voss. 1. c. p. 71. "Pituita per synæresin vox est trisyllaba ap. Pers. (1. c.) Primam syllabam aperte producit Catullus ad Furium s. 23, 17.

A te sudor abest, abest saliva,

Mucusque, et mala pituita nasi.

Itaque trisyllabum etiam est ap. Horat. Serm. 2, 275. stomachoque tumultum Lenta feret pituita, et Ep. (1. c.)" Gesner. Thes. L. L. "Pituita, humor redundans, ex ore naribusque fluens, producitur, Horat. Ep. (1. c.) ubi tamen synæresi hoc vocabulum contrahitur in trisyllabum; nam prima syllaba semper reperitur producta. Ol. Borrichii Parnassus in Nuce ad v. 1630." Noltenius 1. c. p. 332. "Pituita, sanguis imperfecte coctus, humor crudus, aqueus, excrementitius, vel naturaliter vel præternaturaliter in corpore genitus: quo pertinent mucus uarium, qui ex capite redundat, saliva, phlegma, phlegma ventriculi et intestinorum: a TTÚ∞ et Tirów, Spuo, et τvów, Coagulo. Ridet Quintil. 1, 6. (al. 10.) eum, qui dictam putavit, quia petat vitam. Prima syllaba producitur, et tertia, Catull. (I. c.) Secunda et tertia aliquando per synæresin coalescunt, Pers. (l. c.) Horat. (l. c.)” Forcellinus. "Sic et Catullus pituita primam cum produxit, Mucusque et mala pituita naso, non corripuit Horat. nisi cum pituita molesta est. Sed trisyllabum posuit ita ut medium elementum, Æolicum fiat digamma: quod et elicitur ex Ælii Stolonis judicio, qui a petendo vitam duci ratus est." J. C. Scaliger Poet. 7. p. 844. "Pituita, J. C. Scal. (I. c.) Catullus pituita primam produxit, Mucusque et mala pituita nasi" [ap. Scal. est naso,]"nec corripuit Horat. nisi cum pituita molesta est. Sed trisyllabum posuit ita, ut medium elementum Æolicum fiat digamma: quod et elicitur ex Ælii Stolonis judicio, qui a petendo vitam duci ratus est. Quintil. (1. c.) Quamvis autem

pituita aliis formetur a Tírra, quia sit lentus humor, adinstar picis, tamen Ælium sublevat Plato in Timao: Préyμa dè ¿Eù καὶ ἀλμυρὸν πηγὴ πάντων νοσημάτων, ὅσα γίνεται καταῤῥοϊκά· διὰ δὲ τοὺς τόπους, εἰς οὓς ῥεῖ, παντοδαποὺς ὄντας παντοῖα νοσήματα εἴληDev. Et quia pituita vitæ quasi hostis et plurimorum morborum causa est, sane a petendo vitam merito dicitur." Chr. Becmani Manuductio ad L. L. p. 850. "Pituita si coacervetur aut corrumpatur, multos morbos sæpeque mortem adferre solet, eoque Ælio Stoloni videbatur sic dicta, quia petat vitam. Quam etymologiam merito improbat Fabius (1. c.) Græcis vocatur φλέγμα, quod, (ut est in Etym. Μ.,) παρὰ τὸ φλέγω κατ ̓ ἀντίφρασιν ψυχρότατον γάρ ἐστι. Verum antiphrasis nihil est nisi iuscitiæ asylum. Quare videndum an non pituita potius dicatur a TÍTTα, i. e. Pix, nempe quia glutinoso lentore pici similis sit. Atque hoc etymon firmat, quod eapse de causa etiam herba genus dictum sit Tirra, cujus tactu, si cum melle teratur, digiti cohærent, Plinio auctore. Péyua autem, ut ego quidem suspicor, non ita quidem dicitur, quia sit per se igneum, sed quia per accidens causet febres. Quippe φλέγμα ὀξὺ καὶ ἁλμυρὸν πηγὴ πάντων νοσημάτων ὅσα γίγνεται καταῤῥοϊκά, Pituita acida et salsa fons est morborum, quicunque e distillatione fiunt, ut ait Plato in Timao." G. J. Voss. Etym. I. L.

The above passages are all, which I have seen on these controverted points, and from their juxtaposition it is no very troublesome matter to make our way through the difficulty and to put the student in possession of rules sufficient to direct his judgment.

1. To determine the quantity of the penultimate in fortuitus, gratuitus, we must define the etymology of those words. Servius derives fortuitus from eo and fortuna: ille habeat secum servetque sepulcro. Vossius with more sense and felicity derives it from forte, and therefore considers uitus as the mere termination, and in like manner he derives gratuitus from gratis. Let us for a moment admit the absurd etymology of Servius-then the word fortuitus has its penultimate short to a certainty; for it would follow the same analogy, as in circuitus: Virg. Æn. 11, 767.

Undique circuitum, et certam quatit improbus hastam. But if we have recourse to the opinion of Vossius-then also the quantity is manifestly determined to be short, fortuitus. 2. But an objector will start up and say that an adjective so formed and terminated is a novelty in the Latin language. I answer that the principle of formation and the kind of termination appear in at least two adjectives, fortuitus and gratuitus, and therefore,

however novel the fact may be, it is not singular. And who, in the consciousness of universal knowlege and the pride of accurate learning, will venture to assert that the whole compass of Roman literature supplies no other examples? Does not the parent Greek language abound with novelties, and even with singularities? For instance, λavláveμos, a word coined by Simonides (ap. Aristot. Hist. Anim. 5, 8.) is formed against analogy, and to the best of my belief unsupported by any other Greek word of kindred formation. 3. The words circuitus and tenuitas show that there was nothing in the sound of fortuitus cacophonous enough to be rejected by the delicacy of a Roman ear. 4. The language of Roman satire, like the Greek iambic, approximates to common discourse, and, as Juvenal has used fortuitus, the probability is that the word was so pronounced in ordinary conversation. 5. Statius has shortened the penultimate of gratuitus, and would, no doubt, have served fortuitus in the same manner. But, supposing the common pronunciation to have been fortuitus, gratuitus, neither gods nor men would have tolerated the impiety of a poet, who violated the sanctity of the language by substituting for 7. 5. The advocates for lengthening the doubtful syllable in prose confidently appeal to Horace as Augustan authority. But the authority applies only to verse, and undoubtedly a modern writer of Odes may follow the example of Horace. But I ask, has Horace treated any other word in a similar manner? If so, he has availed himself of a poetic licence, and his authority in reference to prose will avail nothing. 6. Horace had the authority of Plautus to plead for his usage, and the language of Roman Comedy would determine the point in favor of Horace, if this be the only instance, in which Plautus can be himself accused of violating quantity to accommodate his verse. It may be reasonably supposed that in the time of Plautus great liberties were taken with the Roman tongue and that the quantity of many words had not been observed with uniform exactness by all Writers. 7. But cannot fortuitus and gratuitus be pronounced as trisyllables? I reply that they cannot be so pronounced in prose, because the Latin language has no diphthong ui, but the contraction of u, i into ui may be occasionally admitted into poetry, as in the instance of pituita. It must, however, be confessed, (and I am indebted to a learned friend for the remark,) that in the Æolic dialect, from which the Latin is derived, the diphthong v exists, as in Tude ap. Sapphonem. Priscian p. 22.: "Apud Eoles vi sæpe amittit vim literæ in metro, ut Zarow, 'Aλd Tuf." See Mait

taire's Gr. L. Dialecti p. 327. 8. I shall be happy to see the subject, which I have attempted to discuss, argued by abler pens than mine; and I claim no other merit than that of a pioneer, in clearing the ground for a future adventurer.

E. H. BARKER.

Thetford, May, 1824.

ON THE

ORIGIN OF MILTON'S LYCIDAS.

SINCE the days of the impostor Lauder no one has dared to accuse Milton of plagiarism. It is far from the intention of the writer of the following pages to fasten that charge on the immortal poet. If we look to the essay of Dr. Farmer on the learning of Shakspeare, or consult any of his numerous commentators, we find that all his dramatic and poetical works are built on some tale or history, yet we do not presume to consider him as a plagiary: therefore if we discover a monody on the same subject as that on Lycidas, treated in the same allegorical manner, similar in structure, containing the same imagery, and often the same expressions, we may conclude, that it was the model on which Lycidas was formed, without accusing Milton of intended plagiarism.

It is singular that neither Warburton, Hurd, Warton, Johnson, Todd, nor any other acute and able commentators, discovered the source from which this monody was derived.

Milton's profound knowlege of the language of Italy and of her Latin writers is too well authenticated to require farther remark.

Among the most celebrated of the Latin poets of Italy is BALTHASAR CASTIGLIONI, a Mantuan, born in 1468, who was made Bishop of Avila by the Emperor, when sent by Clement the Seventh on an embassy to that monarch.

Castiglioni was distinguished for his learning and for his works in prose and verse. Some of his poetical compositions have been highly lauded by Julius Scaliger. Among his poems

is an elegy entitled ALCON. Serrasius speaking of this poem

says:

Castilionius (scilicet Iolas) deflet poetæ Falconis Mantuani juvenis mortem, quem secum domi ab ætate ineunte aluerat, habueratque comitem et socium studiorum ac vigiliarum suarum omnium.

Milton in his monody laments, under the name of Lycidas, his friend and fellow-student Edward King, who was shipwrecked on his passage to Ireland in a crazy vessel, which foundered during a calm, not far from the coast of England.

The similarity in the subjects of the Elegy of ALCON and the Monody of LYCIDAS is evident. Let us now examine the manner in which both the poets have composed their poems. Milton allegorically says of Lycidas:

For we were nursed upon the self-same hill,
Fed the same flock by fountain, shade, and rill.

Iolas, i. e, Castiglioni, tells of Alcon :

Nos etenim a teneris simul usque huc viximus annis,
Frigora pertulimusque æstus, noctesque, diesque,
Communique simul sunt pasta armenta labore.

1

In the above quotations both are allegorically represented in the characters of shepherds, each pursuing with his friend their pastoral avocations.

Dunster acutely conjectured that the lines

I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude;
And with forced fingers rude,

Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year

were derived from these words of Cicero:

Et quasi poma ex arboribus, cruda si sint, vi avelluntur; si matura et cocta, decidunt; sic vitam adolescentibus vis aufert, senibus maturi

tas.

The mind of Milton was so imbued with classic lore, that Dunster's suggestion bears the air of probability; particularly as the word cruda is used by Cicero: but as the Elegy of Alcon contains the following lines, and since, as will be seen, the structure of the poem is throughout the same, I am inclined to consider the idea as emanating from

Non metit ante diem lactentes messor aristas,
Immatura rudis non carpit poma colonus.

Milton tells us of his friend's untimely end:
For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,
Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer.

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