APPENDIX ΤΟ BOOK III. THE Eusebii Præparatio Evangelica. HE Præparatio and the Demonstratio Evangelica of Eusebius are, like the rest of his works, useful and valuable treatises, and deserve a better edition, especially the former, in which are preserved many curious fragments of ancient writers. It is, says Fabricius, collectio pulcherrima argumentorum, variorumque notatu dignissimorum monumentorum ac testimoniorum ex scriptoribus externis magnam partem hodie deperditis, qua animus lectores preparetur ad demonstrationes de veritate Evangelii Christi ex sacris literis tanto facilius imbibendas admittendasque. Mercury says; III. 41. Ὃς δ ̓ ἐξω, ὃν καλέεις, Ζηνὸς καὶ Μαιάδος ψός, Ἑρμῆς προβέβηκα, λιπὼν ἀσραῖον ἄνακλα. Mercurius, quem voce vocas, Maireque Jovisque Vigerus reads 'Equis ös-Perhaps : 'Epuñs ΩΔ ἐγὼ ὃν καλέεις, Ζηνὸς καὶ Μαίδος ψός, ΕΡΜΕΙΑΣ προβέβηκα. કે Observe, Observe, that in these oracles the gods themselves are supposed to speak. V. 7. An oracle of Apollo Didymaus begins thus: Αυλοί, και τυμπάνων πάταξοι, καὶ θῆλυς ὅμιλος. Apollo stole this from the Hymn in Matrem Deorum which is called Homer's: Η κροτάλων, τυπάνων τ' ἰαχὴ, σύν τε τρόμος αὐλῶν Cui crotalorum, tympanorumqué sonus, simulque Placuit. In the oracle we ought to read, not ruμm with a vowel made short before μz, but rvávov, as in the Hymn to Cybele, Tuπávwv, 7' ¡axn, with Barnes and others. So in the Atys of Catullus 8. Niveis citata cepit manibus leve typanum, Typanum tubam Cybelles, tua, Mater, initia. Apollonius Arg. i. Ρόμβῳ καὶ ΤΥΠΑΝΩ Ῥείην Φρύδες ἱλάσκονται. The rule is this: When a vowel is made short before two consonants, those consonants must be such as can begin a syllable, as xu-xvos, &c. If any poets have violated this rule, of which there are some instances, it is a fault in them, and no examples can justify it. Oñλus μinos, in the oracle, which Vigerus renders catus fœmineus, is grex semivirorum, the Galli, the castrated priests and servants of Cybele, who were vagabonds, thieves, beggars, and most infamous wretches. The The priests of Isis, &c. used to carry their deities about to ask alms; upon which Tertullian says very prettily, that the Christians could not afford to relieve begging men and begging gods too: Non enim suffici mus et hominibus, et Düs vestris mendicantibus opem ferre, Apol. 42. Van Dale would distinguish between the Galli and the priests of this goddess, and supposes the Galli to have been rascals of a lower rank. An oracle of Hecate : Γ. δ. Πέριον μετὰ * φέγγος ἀπείριζον, ἀσεροπληθές, Γαίης ζωο]ρόφοιο, τες υποθημοσύνησι, Πειθοῖ τ ̓ ἀῤῥήτων ἐπέων, οἷς δὴ φρένα τέρπει Aëriam lucem, et magni stellantia cœli Culmina, divinos linquo sanctosque penates, Visque arcana precum traxit, queis numina linguæ Perhaps it should be thus: Ἠέριον ΚΑΤΑ φέγγος ἀπείριζον, ἀςερόπληθές, Αχραντον πολύ δῶμα ΘΕΩΝ λίπον, ΗΔ' ἐπιβαίνω Γαίης ζωοτρόφοιο, τεῇσ' υποθημοσύνησι, Πειθοῖ τ' ἀῤῥήτων ἐπέων, οἷς δὴ φρένα ΤΕΡΠΕΙΝ Vigerus corrects καλὰ and τέρπειν. The rest is mine, θεῶν for θεν, ήδ' for ή δ', ἐδάη novit for αδαπ. Vigerus conjectures ade placuit, which is wrong, and makes a barbarism in the construction. It should be tran -queis pectora Divûn Mortalis mulcere potest. V. 23. Oenomaus complains that when he himself consulted Apollo on some very important affair, and desired his direction, he received this impertinent answer; 'Ex τανυσρόφοιο λάας σφενδόνης ἱεὶς ἀνὴρ, χῆνας ἐνάριζε βολαῖσιν ἀσπέτος, wombops Gryovaga lapides fundâ excutiens, anseres ποιηβόρες. prudenter interfice immensos, herbivoros. There is no occasion to make Apollo talk more foolishly than he did; therefore we will try to mend his discourse a little. Vigerus, the editor of Eusebius, did not perceive that these were Trochaics, and that instead of Batow, consiliis, it should be Boxaïow, ictibus. Ἐκ τάνυσρόφοιο λάας σφενδόνης εὶς, ανήρ, Χῆνας ἐνάριζε βολαῖσιν ἀσπέτες, ποιηβάρος. 'Erap. For the sake of metre, we may read trapix, from ἐναρίζομαι, οι ἐνάρισον, from ἐναρίζω, or, which is better, irapie, interficere, by way of ellipsis, with incipe, conare, or some such verb understood. By this most ridiculous oracle, Oenomaus was advised to go and kill geese, by flinging stones at them out a sling. By a certain anomaly and irregularity, the Greeks sometimes put the infinitive for the imperative. Alia est phrasis, apud Græcos usitatissima, cujus exemplum est apud Herodotum iv. c. 163. ubi infinitivus est loco imperativi: σὺ μν τοι ήσυχος εἶναι κατελθῶν εἰς τὴν σεωῦτε, ad verbum, tu quidem quietus esse redux in patriam. Sic et apud Homerum, II. i. 255. σὺ δὲ μεγαλήτορα θυμὸν Ἴσχειν ἐν σήθεσσι. Tu magnanimum animum habere in pectore. Vide et Non potest subaudiri de, oportet, quod alio vers. 281. |