V.

For a Dialogue in Latin.

"Disputatur inter Augustum, Mecanatem, et Agrippam, commodo Reipublicæ consulentes, utrum Augustus supremâ potestate se abdicare debeat”

For Greek Anapæsts.

(Enter Chorus.)

This, this is he; softly a while,

Let us not break in upon him;

change beyond report, thought, or belief! See how he lies at random, carelessly diffus'd, With languish'd head unpropt,

As one past hope, abandon'd,

And by himself giv'n over;

In slavish habit, ill-fitted weeds
O'er-worn and soil'd;

Or do my eyes misrepresent? Can this be he,

That heroic, that renown'd,

Irresistible Samson? whom unarm'd

No strength of man, or fiercest wild beast could withstand;

Who tore the lion, as the lion tears the kid;

Ran on imbattel'd armies clad in iron;

And weaponless himself,

Made arms, ridiculous, useless the forgery

Of brazen shield and spear, the hammer'd cuirass,
Chalybean temper'd steel, and frock of mail
Adamantean proof;

But safest he who stood aloof,

When insupportably his foot advanc'd,

In scorn of their proud arms and warlike tools,
Spurn'd them to death by troops.

For Greek Iambics.

Samson.

Your coming, Friends, revives me, for I learn
Now of my own experience, not by talk,
How counterfeit a coin they are who friends
Bear in their superscription, (of the most
I would be understood) in prosp'rous days
They swarm, but in adverse withdraw their head,
Not to be found, though sought. Ye see, O Friends,
How many evils have enclos'd me round;

Yet that which was the worst now least afflicts me,
Blindness; for had I sight, confus'd with shame,
How could I once look up, or heave the head,
Who like a foolish pilot have shipwreck'd

My vessel trusted to me from above,
Gloriously rigg'd; and for a word, a tear,
Fool! have divulg'd the secret gift of God
To a deceitful woman? Tell me, Friends,
Am I not sung and proverb'd for a fool
In every street? do they not say, how well
Are come upon him his deserts? yet why?
Immeasurable strength they might behold
In me, of wisdom nothing more than mean;
This with the other should, at least, have pair'd,
These two proportion'd ill drove me transverse.

[Dean Ireland's Scholarship, 1840.]

Greek Passages and Questions.

1. The genuineness of the introductory lines to the first book of the Odyssey (v. 1-10.) is suspected. Can you state any reasons arising from the following verses?

ἀρνύμενος ἦν τε ψυχὴν καὶ νόστον ἑταίρων.

αὐτῶν γὰρ σφετέρησιν ἀτασθαλίησιν ὄλοντο.

Explain the Homeric use of the pronoun spéregos, and the variations from that use in later writers.

2. So is the passage A. 567-628, including the visions of Minos, Tityus, Tantalus, Sisiphus, Orion, Hercules. Give the general reasons for this: and any critical arguments which may be raised on the following phrases amongst others:

ν. 568. θεμιστεύοντα νεκύεσσιν.

613. τελαμῶνα ἑῇ ἐγκάτθετο τέχνῃ.

607. αἰεὶ βαλέοντι ἐοικώς.

602. καλλίσφυρον Ήβην.

603. παῖδα Διὸς μεγάλοιο καὶ Ἥρης χρυσοπεδιλοῦ.

The description of Orion, and the occupation in which his shade is represented as engaged (v. 571, &c.) will remind you of a well-known passage in Virgil. Is the conception Homeric ?

3. Explain the terms κιθάρωδοι, ῥάβδωδοι, Ὁμήριδαι, κυκλόγραφοι, χρησμόλογοι, διασκεύασται, which commonly occur in the Homeric controversy. In what way are the names of Terpander, Cynæthus, Pisistratus, Hipparchus, Onomacritus, involved in that controversy ?

4. What is the most probable solution of some disputed points in the geography of the Odyssey: e. g., the situation of Thrinacria; Sikelia; the land of the Læstrygons; of the Cy