THE MONTHLY REVIEW, For JUL Y, 1774. ART. I. Comedies of Plautus, tranflated into familiar Blank Verfe, by the Gentleman who tranflated The Captives. Volume the Fifth and laft. 8vo. 6 s. bound: Becket. 1774. TH HIS very ingenious and refpectable tranflation now calls for our laft attention: and in the capacity of public criticifm, we have nothing more to do than to fet down, for the Tranflator's future confideration, fuch remarks as may occur to us in comparing certain parts of the English Plautus with the original. In the Bacchides, or Courtezans, the first comedy in this vo-` lume, we could with the Tranflator had not followed the French editors in admitting the (purious firft (cene. BACCHID. ACT I. Sc. I. Mala tu es beftia. Nam huic ætati non conducit latebrofus locus. The metaphor here is not fupported, nor the happy fenfe of the IB. Penetrare hujufmodi in palæstram ubi damnis defudafcitur, TRANSLATION. In the heydev of my blood, To enter one of thefe academies, Where people toil and fweat for their undoing, My running will be my difgrace and shame. B We We cannot fay that this fatisfies us. The fourth line in par ticular has no precifion of idea, nor propriety of expreffion. The word academies does not correfpond with the idea of toil and fweat, as defudafcitur does with palefira in the original.Simply in profe it might stand thus, a pretty field of exercise this for a young man, where he must play-to lofs, and run to fhame!' IB. At nimium preciofa es operaria. TRANS. Alas! you'll be a mistress too expensive. The word mistress here feems a little unlucky as a translation of operaria. IB. ACT IV. Sc. I. The original led the Tranflator into this little inaccuracy, which, however, may as well be removed. Who i'ft comes out, in the fame scene, is rather harsh, and may be omitted. IB. ACT IV. Sc. VIII. · Equom eft tabellis confignatis credere. It is but right, That, when they're feal'd, I should give credit to them. The original feems to be a general observation on the credit due to fealed writings, in contraft to the verba danti fervo, whose faith Nicobulus had been juft then doubting, rather than to have any particular reference to the letter of Mnefilochus, which the Tranflator has given it. IB. Sc. IX. Nunc Priamo noftro fi quis eft emptor, coëmtionalem senem Vendam ego, venalem quem habeo, extemplo ubi oppidum expugnavero. LITERALLY, Now if I can find a purchaser for our Priam, I will fell an old man, whom I have for fale, in the fame lot with him, immediately after I have taken the town.' We have quoted the original as it is pointed in our editions of Plautus, and we entirely agree with Gronovius in his fenfe of coëmtionalis. By the fenem coëmtionalem, Chryfalus most probably means the father of Piftoclerus. We leave this conftruction of the paffage, which Mr. War ner has not followed, to his better judgment. periffe fuavius eft IB. Suavius Suavius fhould have been tranflated more agreeable; a sense which it commonly bore in the time of Plautus.-Sweeter feems here uncouth. I'll return hither back immediately in the fame scene wants correction. PERSA. ACT I. Sc. II. Si id fiat, na ifti faxim nufquam appareant, Was this a law in force, we should not fee The white net spread to take our neighbour's goods. The commentators have both mifread, and misunderstood, this paffage, and it is, therefore, no wonder if they have led the Tranflator into their mistake. Not knowing what to make of albo ariete, and modeftly concluding, according to custom, that what they did not understand muft needs be wrong, fome of them, to reconcile it to their ignorance, had the hardiness to alter the text to albo rete; which, indeed, made abfolute nonfense of it. The allufion is military; the metaphorical conftruction this, We fhould fee none of thofe fellows who lay fiege to other mens goods with a white ram.' The real fenfe, • We should fee none of thofe informers who, by infidious means, get poffeffion of the property of others.'. The applica tion of the metaphor, which is very happy, would probably have occurred to them, if they had recollected the following paffage in Pliny: EQUUM (qui nunc ARIES appellatur) in muralibus machinis primum epeum ad Trojam. Plin. Nat. Hift. lib. vii. cap. 56. The infidious conduct of the informer represented by the equally infidious inftrument of the equus ad Trojam, qui nunc aries appellatur, gives to the allufion the greatest propriety. If the Translator of these comedies has fallen into any confiderable error, it is when, through too great diffidence, he has departed from himself, and too implicitly given into the opinions of the commentators—that generation of moles, for ever groping and blundering, who, in general, without tafte, penetration, or judgment, fell into the moft miferable quibbling, and torturing of words. Mr. W. with all his merit, we can hardly forgive for his acquiefcence in their interpretation of the following paffage : Aquilam mihi IB. ACT V. Sc. I. Hic ftatui volo primum The commentators will have aquilam in this place to stand for aquulam, a little water: now, not to mention that Toxilus calls for this article afterwards Date aquam manibus, nothing can be more clear than that this expreffion is a continuation of the military metaphor with which he begins→→→ Hoftibus vidis, civibus falvis, &c. Aquilam mihi Hic fatui volo primum Here fhall my ftandard first be placed, the eagle. The Perfian abounds with more unaffected wit and nature than almost any other of the comedies of Plautus. It is interfperfed with fine fentiments, and the general purpofe is truly comical, if not moral. A mifchievous Pandar, impofed upon by the art of Toxilus (who had previous connections with him fufficient to make him with for revenge) and drawn in to purchase a freeman's daughter, under pretence that fhe was a Perfian flave, when he finds his mistake, and that he has thrown away his money, becomes a fine fubject for comic ridicule. He appears venting his rage in the last act, when he finds Toxilus and his coadjutors exulting over his misfortunes. ACT V. SCENE I. Enter TOXILUS and Slaves. Go out then and prepare-Before the door, [to the flaves. Set down the couches here-Bring every thing * The water plac'd-] The original is aquilam, the eagle, which the Romans carried on their enfigns. The commentators feem to agree, that the speaker uses it for aquulam, a little water, in order to make a kind of jeu des mots (as the French call it) on the words. That the Romans used warm and cold water both before their meals, most probably to wash their hands, appears from many paffages in our author. Age accumbe igitur cedo aquam Manibus, puer appone bic menfulam. Moftellaria, A& I. Scene III. v. 150. Affiftance Affiftance I've so easily accomplish'd The thing I wish'd for, may have fome reward- Enter LEMNISELENE, SAGARISTIO, and PÆGNIUM. LEM. Tox. LEM. Tox. Tox. Or rather should I fay, why you from me? Go-to-Why don't you come then and carefs me? Prithee, why don't you take us to our couches Is yours Tox. Your wish is mine LEM. And mine Tox. Come, Sagarillio, come and take The upper couch SAG. I care not much 'bout that, : your couch SAG. All in good time's too late. To wafh our hands-Set fupper on the table [to PAG. To you, fweet flower, this wreath of flowers I give, giving a wreath to LEMNISELENE. For you fhall be the miftrefs of our feaft Start from the top with feven cups, my boy, Move your hand brifkly, ftir-Thou art an age, Pagnium, in giving me the cups-Come, give them me- And health to my fair miftrefs-The kind gods Have granted me this day, this day I long'd for- From flavery. LEM. You've made us happy all As it becomes a miftrefs to her love, [drinking. [to LEM. -my-dear-]. The original is, oculus meus, my eye. Oculus and ocellus are often made ufe of by Plautus in an endearing sense. Bene vale, ocule mi Adieu, my dear Meus oculus, da mibi favium Give me a kifs, you rogue Curculio, A&t I Scene III. v. 47. Stichus, A& V. Scene VI. v. 3. Do you but make, &c.] The original in most of the editions is cedò parem. Al. dus and Lambin read cedò partem. If the former is adhered to, it is, fay the commentators, addreffed to Toxilus, and means, do you provide a mistress for me, that 1 may be as happy as you are. If the latter, it means, give me the money, according to agreement.. with feven cups-] This is an curulia, which were races with chariots, The Grecians drove round twelve times. was to drink largely. allufion to the game the Romans called which they were to drive round the course.. Therefore pergracari, to drink like Grecians, Limiers from M. De L'Oeuvre. B 3 My |