&Holm Boous.—Homer : Iliad, LAIL With an Introduction, a brief
Homeric Grammar, and Notes. By D. B. Monro, M.A. (The Clarendon Press.)—Mr. Monro's book, intended "to furnish a com- panion volume to Mr. Merry's school edition of the ' Odyssey,' " is welcome. The Introduction gives a short sketch of Homeric criticism, which might have included with advantage some detailed notice of the Alexandrian critics. The theories of Wolf, G. Hermann, and Lachmann are noticed, as are also those of Nitsch and Mr. Grote; but Mr. Paley's is passed over in silence. The grammar of Homer is a subject on which Mr. Monro's services to Greek scholarship are well known. The notes seem, as far as we have been able to examine them, excellent, as they are certainly terse and conveniently com- pressed (142 pp. of notes to 245 of text). We observe a point noticed which many commentators hay missed in i., 234. "The sceptre does not belong to Achilles ; it is borne by the Achaean Sacacradxo —i.e., it is held by each speaker in turn to show that he is in possession of the house." Heyne says, " Jarat per sceptram .quia id forte tenebat."—Sallust. By W. W. Capes, M.A. (Clarendon Press.)—Mr. Capes edits the Catiline and the Jugurtha. But why not have included the Fragments of the History P T he fault probably lies, not with the editor, but with the delegates of the Press, who are a little too much bent on making their ventures lucrative. Even from this point of view a mistake has been made. An edition of Sanest with the " Fragments " would be a novelty. Mr. Capes's Introduction is all that we could wish. Besides the ordinary topics, he deals in a valuable essay with the subject of "The Land and People of Numidia." His notes are specially valuable for their illustrations. On "din magnum inter modelle certamen fait, vine corporis an virtute animi res militaris magis procederet," he very aptly quotes Macaulay's famous sentences about the battle of Landau, and the " hanch-backed dwarf who urged forward the fiery onset of France, and the asthmatic skeleton who covered the slow retreat of England." Agesilans might have been men- tioned. Mr. Cape notices, too, the curious contrast which, as far as we know, all commentators have passed over, between the Biblical ideal of "strangers and pilgrims," as that which the Christians should aim at, and Salluat's description of the sensual as those who pass through life " veluti peregrinautes." Sanaa probably refers to an experience familiar enough among ourselves—the lax and careless tone which a visitor sometimes assumes as distinguished from a citizen. —We get also from the Clarendon Press, Cicero : De Senectute, de Amicitia. Edited, with Notes, by Walter Heslop, M.A.—Mr. Reid's editions must remain the standards for these two treatises. The depth and fullness of his Cioeroniau scholarship can, indeed, scarcely be rivalled. But they are almost too full for common use ; and the handy volume before us, in which the notes about equal the text in bulk (Mr. Reid in the" Laelius " gives nearly twice as much) will be found convenient.—Latin Prose Exercises, based upon Coesar's Gallic War. By Clement Bryans. (Macmillan.)—This is a very carefully constructed series of exercises, with something of novelty, and, we think, probably useful novelty, in their plan. Ceesar's style and forms of expression are carefully analysed ; and passages of similar kind from English chroniclers and historians are given for translation into Latin. The value of all such books can only be ascertained by experiment ; but this promises well.—Cicero De Senectute. Trans- lated, with an Introduction and Notes, by Andrew P. Peabody. (Little, Brown, and Co., Boston, U.S.)—Mr. Peabody's translation has serious blemishes. In chapter xiv., "is sermo qui more maioram a summo adhibetur in pocalo," the meaning of a summo is not "announced from the head of the table," but "which passes from left to right," the left-hand couch of the three being SUMMUS, and the left-hand guest, again, being distinguished in the same way. The talk began, "a summo in summo." " Compleo convivium " is not "I fill my table with my neighbours," but, "I make one of a party with my neighbours." In chapter xvi. there is a very serious mistake. " Nobis senibus ex lasionibus maltis tabs relinquant at tesseraa ; id ipsum utrum libebit, quoniam sine iis beats ease senectus potest." Mr. Peabody has, " From their many diversions let them leave for us old men knuckle-bones and dice. Either will serve our turn ; but without them old age can hardly be contented." This would be a humiliating confession for Cato to make. Of coarse he says nothing of the kind. "IItrum libebit " does not mean "either knuckle.bones or dice," but "either leave or not leave," "for old age can be happy without them," where the interpolated negative ruins the sense. In chapter xviii. occurs another slip, less fatal to the meaning, but strongly indicative of defective scholarship. Cicero writes :—" Lj sand= dicere aiant solitum Lacedaemonem esse honestissimum domiciliam senectatis," and goes on, " Nusquam enim tantum tribnitur aetati," &c.—the mood of tribuitur showing that it is his own remark. Mr. Peabody has it "insomuch as nowhere else was such deference paid," a rendering which would clearly mislead a young scholar. In chapter xvii., "Apex senectutis eat auotoritas " is indifferently rendered by "The crowning glory of old age is authority." The word is likely to mis- lead. In the following chapter, in the passage " Salatari, adpeti, decedi," rte., we observe that the translator omits decedi. " Con- sarrexisse omnes 1111 dicuntur et senem sessum rec,episse " is inade- quately given by "They all rose, and remained standing till the old man was seated." They give him a seat among themselves. Mr. Peabody, for all his good intentions, is scarcely equal to his task.— Exercises in Translation at Sight. Arranged by A. W. Speak, M.A., and A. Pretor, M.A.—The English version (Rivingtons) completes the work, giving a translation of the various passages for unprepared trans- lation put together by the authors in their first volume. A teacher or student will find their excellent version very useful for consultation.— The Trojan War, translated from the German of Professor C. Wits, by Francis E. Younghusband (Longrnans), may be classed as a school- book, without derogating from its literary value. Nothing can be more helpful in its way for the lad who has " Homer " put into his hands for the first time than to get a general idea of the story.—French Passages for Unseen Translation, by C. H. Parry, MA. (Rivingtons), is a useful extension to the study of French of a method which is found indispensable for the classical languages. The passages are graduated in difficulty ; but the graduation begins at a somewhat advanced stage. The authors drawn upon are for the most part recent, though occasional use has been made of earlier writers. Mr. Parry has added a few notes.—French Spare Moments. By J. F. P. Masse. (Henry Frowde.)—M. Masse has put together here a book which teachers will doubtless find of much practical utility. Short passages for translation (mostly under ten linos in length) have been carefully graduated in order of difficulty, being divided into three sections respectively entitled "Easy," " Moderate," and "Difficult." It is intended that these should occupy the odd minutes which a teacher sometimes finds at his disposal. The idea is a happy one, and, we should say, well carried out. Another method of disposing of these fragments of time is suggested by Part IV. Here we have a great number of idiomatic expressions in French, and facing these explanations of their mean- ing expressed in the same language. A fifth part gives a list of "Orthographic changes adopted in the latest edition of the Diction- naire de l'Academie Francaise." Finally, we get a paradigm of the tenses of theEnglish and French verb.—Exercises in French Syntay, with Rules. By G. Sharp, MA. (Rivingtons.) —Mr. Sharp is right, we think, in framing his rules as much as possible "along classical lines." The unhappy boy who learns his grammar of Latin, of French, and of English, each on a different principle, is certainly much to be pitied. This little book is likely to be useful.— We have also received French Grammar, Hossfeld's New Method, by A. Huguenet (Society for Promoting the Knowledge of Foreign Languages); and from the same publishers a German Grammar, by C. Brenkmann, constructed on the same principles. —Macaulay's Essay on Milton. Edited by Alexander Mackie, M.A. (Longmans.)—Mr. Mackie has chosen this Essay for the purpose of pointing out the errors of style which it contains, errors which, by the way, the author was quite conscious of in later days,—a fact which it would have been only fair for Mr. Mackie to have pointed out. The pupils for whom the text-book is intended must be advanced ; to these it is likely to be useful.—Robinson Crusoe, edited for School use by Alonzo Gardiner (W. and R. Cham- bers), does not need much comment. It sounds formidable when we read that "Long paragraphs have been broken up, and old forms of grammar and construction modernised ;" but it is reassuring to be told that "in editing the text," "the changes have been few and slight." On behalf of boys and girls, we rather grudge what may be taken to mean the loss of an old favourite.—Chambers's Geographi- cal Readers (W. and R. Chambers), Standards III. and IV.; and from the same publishers Chambers's Graduated Readers, Standard V.—A Test-Book on Practical, Solid, or Descriptive Geometry. By David Allan Low. Part I. (Longmans).
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