94 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2''<' S. No 57., Jan. 31. '57. 



feet without its dative case or preposition as " rely " 

 without its " on." In fact, when transitive it 

 has quite a different meaning, viz. to entrust or 

 commit. Yet the scrupulously accurate Romans 

 did not hesitate to use the word credibilis (lite- 

 rally " able to be entrusted to somebody,") in the 

 sense of able to be relied on ; and besides, they 

 never turned "credo " into a personal passive, but 

 into an impersonal, as creditur testimonio, not 

 testimonium, to show that the sense was imper- 

 fect without the dative. So that reliable is just 

 as good as any other English word with " able " 

 tacked on, and is quite intelligible. What would 

 those, who say that bilis always means " able to 

 be " say to illacrymabilis, which in one sense is 

 " not liable to be softened by tears." This ap- 

 pears to me a greater liberty than supplying " on " 

 after "rely." As to relionable, that is jargon 

 if you please, and pretty ignorant too. The idea 

 of putting a verbal ending to a preposition is too 

 ridiculous to speak of. Alpha's glance must 

 have been very superficial indeed, or he would 

 have found a sufficient number of actives in bilis 

 to make it probable that its meaning is simply 

 " capability, ability, fitness," &c., without regard 

 to voice. Even in English there are several, e. g. 

 passable, in sense of tolerable, passible (perhaps 

 unconscionable), agreeable, &c. In Latin very 

 many of the commonest words are both active and 

 passive, and if derived from deponents are only 

 active. I will now add some twenty examples 

 from Plautus to Prudentius : 



1. Sum pedibus mobilis. — Plautus. Mobile ingenium ; 



.versatility. 



2. Visibilis; able to. see. — Pliny. 



3. Penetrabile frigns. — Nepos, 



4. Carmen execrabile ; a form of execration. 



5. Exorabilis ; having power to persuade by entreaty. 



6. Perhaps Inexplicabilis facilitas ; i.e. that leads to no 



result. 



7. Placabilius est ; it is more likely to appease. — 



Ter. ; also placabilis ara et hostia : able to appease. 



8. Excruciabilis ; tormenting. — Prudentius. 



9. Excitabilis ; exciting. — Ccel. Aur. 



10. Medicabilis ; able to cure. 



11. Durabilis; lasting (durable). 



12. Dubitabilis ; one that doubts. 



13. Discordabilis and concordabilis ; able to disagree. 



14. Risibilis; able to laugh. — Mar. Cap. 



15. Probably Nubilis; able to marry: not passive, for 



the man ducit. 



16. Stabilis; in Latin and English, 



17. Consolabilis ; consolatory. — Gellius. . 



18. Contemplabilis ; taking aim at. 



19. Obmprehensibilis humani generis. — Seneca. 



20. Commeabilis ; that easily passes through. 



21. Animabilis; that gives life to. — Amob. 



22. Adulabilis sermo ; a flattering discourse. 



23. Passibilis; able to suffer. 



24. Perhaps Facilis; able to be done, and able to do; 



facile remedium, and facilis frugum ; production of. 



I think I have said enough to show that " super- 

 ficial" views will not often bear looking into. 



J. C. J. 



DUODECIMO EDITION OF SWIFT : POllTRAIT, ETC. 



(2"" S. ii. 21. 96' 158. 199. 254. 509.; iii. 72.) 



When I stated (iii. 72.) that no trace of the 

 complete duodecimo edition had been found, I 

 did so on the authority of one whom I had en- 

 gaged to make a careful search ; but I added my 

 own doubt as to the fact, and, having since made 

 further inquiries, I find that the Trinity College 

 Library does contain the very edition that we are 

 in search of: namely, the duodecimo of 1735, cor- 

 sponding with the octavo of the same date. The 

 whole affair is, therefore, clear. Faulkner was 

 not deterred from producing his complete 12mo. 

 edition, for which he had had new plates engraved ; 

 and G. N.'s volume is only an odd volume of that 

 set, from which some former possessor had cut 

 away as much of the title-page as showed it to be 

 an odd volume. The result of all is, that the 

 next editor of Swift may add as a note to Motte's 

 letter, that his remonstrance was inefficacious. 



c. 



SKtjpIt'f^ to Minnx ^tiertoS. 



Drinking on Martyrs" Tombs (2""^ S. i. 413.) — 

 I wonder that no answer has been given to this 

 Query. Dryden's words : 



" . . tho^ that vainly hoped kind heaven would wink, 

 While to excess on martyrs' tombs they drink," 



doubtless allude to the practice of the Christiana 

 of post-Apostolic times, at their agape, or love- 

 feast (our translators term it " feast of charity," 

 Jude 12.). In purer, earlier days, these feasts 

 were well enough ; they were evidences of that 

 brotherly love which Christianity induces : but at 

 length came corruption, and unseemly revelling, 

 and even drunkenness characterised them. In the 

 times of persecution they were held in the cata- 

 combs, among the tombs of the martyrs. Hence 

 Dryden's allusion. 



This abuse it was which in the African Church 

 roused Augustine to indignant remonstrance : 

 " The martyrs hear your bottles ; the martyrs 

 hear your drunken revels." And on account of 

 this abuse, the rite was abolished in the fifth 

 century. 



Perhaps I am wrong in saying that the rite was 

 pure, till the Apostles had passed to their rest: 

 for it may be that, to those who abused it, Paul 

 addressed the censures in 1 Cor. xi. 20 — 22. At 

 these love-feasts, the eucharist was generally re- 

 ceived first ; and then "the brethren" joined the 

 provisions they had brought in one common stock, 

 and partook of them together. " One is hungry, 

 and another is drunken" says Paul ; and asks, 

 " What, have ye not houses to eat and to drink in ? " 

 See also 2 Pet. ii. 13. Thbelkeld. 



Cambridge. 



