FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   >>  
r _Brumoy_ too, who has lately given us three Volumes upon the _Theatre_ of the _Greeks_, has slipt into an Error about _Sophocles_; for, speaking of his _Antigone_, he tells us, it was in such Request as to be perform'd Two and Thirty times; _Elle fut representee trente deux fois._ The Account, on which This is grounded, we have from the Argument prefix'd to _Antigone_ by _Aristophanes_ the Grammarian: and the _Latin_ Translator of this Argument, probably, led Father _Brumoy_ into his Mistake, and he should have referr'd to the Original. The _Greek_ Words are; +lelektai de to drama touto triakoston deuteron+. i. e. "_This _Play_ is said to have been the _Thirty Second_, in Order of Time, produced by_ Sophocles." The Mistakes, that I have mentioned, (tho' they necessarily lead into Error, from the Authority with which they come into the World;) yet are such, 'tis obvious, as have been the Effects of Inadvertence; and therefore I do not quote them to the Dishonour of their Learned Authors. I shall point out Two or Three, which seem to have sprung from another Source: either a due Want of Sagacity, or an absolute Neglect of _literal Criticism_. [Sidenote: Sir _George Wheler_ corrected.] VI. Sir _George Wheler_, who, in his JOURNEY into GREECE, has traded much with _Greek_ Antiquities and Inscriptions, and who certainly was no mean Scholar, has shewn himself very careless in this Respect. When he was at _Sardis_, he met with a Medal of the Emperor _Commodus_ seated in the Midst of the Zodiack with Celestial Signs engraven on it; and, on the other Side, a Figure with a Crown-Mure with these Letters about it, +Sardis Asias, AUDIAS, Hellados, 1' metropolis+: __Sardis_, the first Metropolis of _Asia_, _Greece_, and _Audia_._--But where and what _Audia_ was, (_says He_) I find not. Now is it not very strange, that this Gentleman should not remember, that _Sardis_ was the Capital City of _Lydia_; and, consequently, that for +AUDIAS+ we should read +LYDIAS+? Tho' my Correction is too obvious to want any Justification, yet, I find, it has One from the Learned Father [D]_Harduin_; who produces another Coin of _Sardis_ (in the _French_ King's Cabinet) which bears the very same Inscription, only exhibited as it ought to be. [Footnote D: In his _Nummi Antiqui illustrati_.] Nor was This a single Inaccuracy in Sir _George_. I'll instance in Two pretty Inscriptions, the One an _Epitaph_, the other a _Votive Table_, wh
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   >>  



Top keywords:
Sardis
 

George

 
Father
 
Argument
 

Inscriptions

 

Wheler

 

AUDIAS

 

Learned

 

obvious

 
Thirty

Antigone

 

Sophocles

 
Brumoy
 
instance
 
Figure
 

Inaccuracy

 
Letters
 
metropolis
 

Hellados

 

single


engraven

 

Celestial

 

careless

 

Respect

 

Scholar

 
Votive
 
Epitaph
 

Zodiack

 

pretty

 

seated


Commodus
 
Emperor
 

Greece

 

Justification

 
Footnote
 
Correction
 

Harduin

 

exhibited

 

Inscription

 
produces

French

 

illustrati

 

Cabinet

 
Antiqui
 

LYDIAS

 
Capital
 

strange

 

Gentleman

 

remember

 

Metropolis