SOME Gimes ScirooL-Booes.—The Odyssey of Homer, Book szi.. Edited by
G. M. Edwards. (Cambridge University Press.)—This edition should prove very helpful to those who are beginning the study of Homer's language. There is a very complete and well- arranged account of Homeric forms, which would be a good pre- paration for Memo's "Grammar;" references are also given to King and Cookson, and to Brugmann's "Comparative Grammar," and the student is introduced to longer and shorter forms of stem, to "consonantal i," and to sonant liquids and nasals (the circles are omitted by mistake under one sonant "m," and one sonant "n," in the note on p. xxi.) In the notes on the text, also, in- teresting little philological comments will be found. Mr. Edwards carefully discusses many of the recurring words and expres- sions, such as 37os (1. 38), !fah rs (1. 101), limos blhirrow (1. 168), Inteptatirens (1. 390) ; there are very good notes, too, on parataxis (11.7 and 95), el r &ye (1.217), and 1 (1. 260), following the view that el was originally an interjection. Monro's book is referred to, and sometimes quoted, for grammatical points; while to explain ques- tions concerning the palace of Odysseus, passages are given from an article by Professor Gardner in the Journal of Hellenic Studies. With regard to the ordeal of the axes, Mr. Edwards follows Gobel's view that the arrow was to be shot along the hollow enclosed, between the double crescent-shaped blades of the row of axes (notes on 11. 76, 120, 123, and 422). We must not forgot to men- tion the appendices, which well deserve notice. They treat of the article, the subjunctive, the optative, and the infinitive, and are in the main—as is the introduction—reprinted from Mr. Edwards's edition of Book x., but with alterations in the examples, and some omissions.—The First Three Books of Homer's Iliad. Edited, for the use of schools, by Thomas D. Seymour. (Ginn and Co.)—This edition is mainly adapted from Professor Sey- mour's more advanced commentary and "Introduction to the Language and Verse of Homer," in the "College Series of Greek Authors," but a vocabulary is added to make the book more help- ful to beginners. The introduction gives a sketch of the nature of epic poetry, a list—quaint from its brevity—of some pecu- liarities of "Homeric life," and an outline of the story of the Iliad. Next follows a discussion of Homeric style from an artistic point of view, with quotations from Pope, Cowper, and Lessing, as well as a more detailed account, giving "rhetorical figures" used by Homer, and ending with a very good little paragraph on some words that have different meanings in Homeric and in later Greek. Homeric syntax is only briefly touched upon ; but some important features, such as the use of parataxis, are clearly brought out. We notice that Professor Seymour explains the use of TE by this principle, evidently not adopting Monro's theory as to " re in general statements." Neither does he follow Monro's views as to the force of di, in Homer. The introduction also includes a fairly comprehensive list of Homeric forms, which would perhaps have been more useful in a more tabular shape, and an interesting section on Homeric verse. The commentary is scholarly, and seems, on the whole, adapted to the aim of the edition. The notes are short, but pass over little or nothing, while they give some interesting information. The notes on the Lapithte (i., 263 f.), on Kcipn Kopacurres 11), on Patroclus (i., 307), and on symbolical actions in curses and conjurations (iii., 300), are particularly good. The vocabulary has been carefully com- piled. The map of Homeric Greece might have been clearer.
Euripides' Iphigeneia among the Taurians. Edited by Isaac Flagg. (Same publishers.)—The first noticeable feature in this edition is the fullness of the introduction, which is longer than is generally allotted to any but the most elaborate English editions of Greek plays. Nor does the quality disappoint us. The account of the legend and its growth, and of the plot of Euripides' play, and the dis- cussion of the "prologue," " deus ex machina," and Rats ityyslim6, show artistic insight as well as scholarship. The connection of the choral odes with the rest of the play is explained. Mr. Flagg also points out how the myth relates to an Attic cult, and indicates the origin of the story which makes Iphigeneia priestess of Artemis, and connects her with the Taurian land. We should be inclined, however, to think that Artemis and Iphigeneia were not "distinct divinities" originally, but rather "Iphigeneia," an epithet of Artemis, as is suggested in the note, though Mr. Flagg apparently considers this the second stage. The last section of the introduction is entitled "Metres and Technique," and deals with the metres of tragedy, and the principles on which they are used to express various degrees and kinds of emotion. The meaning, "marching measure," ascribed to parcemix (p. 45) —from oiaos, "way "—seems decidedly superior to the time- honoured explanation which makes it the "proverb metre." Altogether, the introduction is excellent, and the notes are good too. "Euripedes " on the cover looks strange ; if it represents an improved spelling of the name, it should have been kept up inside the book. In the introduction, too, there does not seem to be any reason for writing stichomythia, if parodoi keeps its Greek form. Are we right in suspecting that we have an example of "dittography " in "the degree of spiritual amelioration that three children of nature can take on in three thousand years" (note 5, on p. 7) P—Plutarch's Lives of Goats and Otho. Edited by E. G. Hardy. (Macmillan.) —Mr. Hardy has certainly carried out the plan on which he tells us that he has proceeded, namely— that of making the books of Plutarch "a peg on which, by way of comment and illustration, to hang as much historical teaching as possible." It may perhaps be doubted whether this method is suitable for many even of sixth-form school- boys in a printed edition, its excellence for oral teaching being quite a separate question. But more advanced students at least should appreciate the copious supply of historical in- formation collected for them in the notes, and the account of the period given in the introduction. The notes include a fair num- ber of comments on the uses of words and of references for grammatical points, besides translations of difficult phrases ; but Mr. Hardy does not aim at producing at all a complete com- mentary on Plutarch's language. It is on the historical notes that he has expended his labour and care. These are quite a mina of information, and include biographical accounts of the noteworthy persons mentioned in the text, and discussions on such points as the rights of senate and army in the election of Emperors (note on " Galba," chap. x., 1. 13), the power of the Emperors over the lives of the citizens (note on " Galba," chap. xv., 11. 6-6), adoption by the Emperors (note on " Galba," chap. xxiii., 11. 10-11), election to the maiora sacerdoties (note on "Otho," chap. i., 11. 15-16), and the office of the prmfecteas urbt: (note on "Otho," chap. v., 11. 11-12). These are but a few amongst many. The parallel passages from Tacitus are given constantly, and in the note on "Otho," chap. vii., 11. 15-16, his fuller account of the battle is quoted and explained. In the introduction, the relation of Plutarch's work to that of Tacitus is considered at some length, lists being given of parallel passages from the two authors, and of places where Plutarch's account is the more complete. Mr. Hardy arrives at the conclusion that they used the same authority, and that this was probably the Histories of Pliny the Elder. There is an appendix of legends from coins and inscriptions which illustrate the reigns of Galba and Otho. Nor is criticism of the text neglected : important conjectures and variations in the manu- script readings are given in foot-notes, and in the introduction there is an account of previous editions, and of the manuscripts, two of which Mr. Hardy has himself collated. We noticed some misprints. " Lycophron," in the argument of chap. i. of the " Galba," should apparently be " Polyphron." There are super- fluous commas on p. 112 of the notes, and in the argument to chap. vii. of the "Otho :" " pulso qui vindice, quondam Imperium
adseruit," So., and "to protect which, Annins Gallus brought up," he. Nor does there seem to be any reason why the same man should be called both "Dryanus " and " Dryan " within four lines (p. cxiii. of the introduction).
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