180 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'«i S. X. Sept. 1. '60. 



casion, as tlie title sufficient]}' shows, is of a controversial 

 character, and the author frankly declares in his preface 

 that his object has been to refute the errors of the Greek 

 Church, ^ sous la protection d'un des plus grands esprits 

 du quinziferae siecle, qui devait etre en meme temps sin- 

 guliferement pieux pour que le plus beau livre sorti de la 

 main d'un homme, I'Evangile n'en ^tant pas, lui soit attri- 

 bue." Of Gerson it is perhaps unnecessary to say much in 

 this place, his works and his character being now suffici- 

 ently known from the researches and publications of 

 Messrs. Faugere, Schmidt, Thomassy, and Schwab ; but 

 Prince Galitzin has inserted in his preface a long bio- 

 graphical extract, which, besides being extremely in- 

 teresting, possesses almost the merit of perfect noveltj', 

 as it is taken from a book scarcely accessible to the 

 majority of readers, we mean Andr^ Thevet's Pourtraits 

 et Vie des Hommes illustres. Paris, 1854, fo. 



The sermon now edited by the Russian bibliographer 

 from a MS. in the Paris Imperial Library, had never be- 

 fore been printed in its original form; Louis Ellies du 

 Pin gave indeed a Latin translation of it (cf. his edit, of 

 Gerson's Works, vol. ii. pp. 141 — 153.) ; but the study of 

 the French text is much more interesting in a philolo- 

 gical point of view, and, as a monument of mediaeval lite- 

 rature, it deserves serious attention, even from those who 

 would not care much for its merits as a piece of divinity. 



Histoire des Peuples Opiques, de leur Ligislat'ion, de lew 

 Culte, de leurs Mceurs, de kur Langue. Par Maximilien 

 de Ring. 8vo. Paris. Benjamin Duprat. 



This remarkable work, the result of much research 

 and of deep thought, contains the history of the Kimro- 

 Pelasgic populations which in ancient times prevailed 

 throughout Italy. The name Opici, given to these popu- 

 lations, originated from their worship of the forces of 

 nature under the name of Ops ; they were more generally 

 k^jown by the designation Osci, itself a contraction of 

 the word Opsci; and Campania is probably the first dis- 

 trict where the Opic nationality obtained some real de- 

 velopment, for we find it in ancient history described 

 also under the name Opica. 



The first part of M. de Ring's volume embraces the 

 political historj' of the Opici, or Osci, from the earliest 

 times to their final absorption by the Romans; the 

 second part contains an able disquisition on their agricul- 

 ture, laws, religion, language, and literature. The re- 

 maining monuments, which permit us to form some idea 

 of the municipal institutions of the Osci, are very few in 

 numb«r, besides existing only in a fragmentar}' condi- 

 tio!! : " nous possedons," says M. de Ring, " deux monu- 

 ments osques analogues qui, en I'absence de tout autre 

 reste de litterature, sont les deux seules pages ecrites qui 

 puissent nous initier en partie au genie de cette langue, 

 d'ou est sortie celle des Latins. On devine que je veux 

 parler du Cippe d'Abella, dans la Campanie, ilejh connu 

 par les commentaires qui en ont e'te faits, et du bronze 

 epistographique de Bantia, ville alliee de Rome, dans la 

 Lucanie . . . ." This last monument is by far the more 

 curious of the two, because it places before our eyes a 

 complete description of the magistracj' in the towns of 

 Lower Italy at a period when they had not yet received 

 the rights of Roman citizenship. In interpreting it M. 

 de Ring differs from the opinions, on the one hand, of 

 Klenze and Mommsen, who believe that it refers to some 

 agrarian law; and on the other of Buschke, who con- 

 siders it as a decree made for the purpose of repressing 

 the encroachments of the Bantiates, who aimed at ei- 

 tending their jurisdiction over Alba Longa, PrsBueste, 

 Tusculum, and other surrounding localities. 



With respect to the language our author indeed ac- 

 knowledges that we are reduced to mere conjectures as to 

 its development and appearance, but he considers it to 



have been above a simple patois; nay, he goes so far as 

 to saj' that " au cinquieme si5cle de Rome, ses formes 

 etaient mieux reglees, son orthographe plus consequente 

 que celle de la langue Latine ^ la meme epoque." Its 

 distinctive characteristic, when compared to the Latin, 

 was great conciseness, great simplicity. The sentences 

 are extremely clear ; and although most of the words are 

 derived from the Greek, in their Opic shape they assume 

 a far ruder appearance than in the oldest monuments of 

 Hellenic literature. Like tlie Greek, the Opic language 

 has the paragogic N, and it forms its future after nearh' 

 the same manner ; but it has neither dual nor optative, 

 and does not recognise the middle voice iu verbs. 



We must leave om* readers to appreciate for themselves 

 the erudite and ingenious conclusions of M. de Ring on the 

 important subject which he has thoroughly discussed. 

 The supplement added to the second part of the volume 

 is one cf the most curious features in the whole work, 

 because it contains the grammatical remarks suggested 

 by so scanty and so mutilated a collection in documents, 

 that the wonder is how these pieces jusiificatives could 

 have formed the groundwork of any remarks at all. The 

 author has taken care to add facsimiles, carefully done, 

 of the epigraphs quoted and commented on: in this 

 manner every student can pursue independently the in- 

 vestigations "made by M. de Ring, whilst he will, at the 

 same time, be convinced of the difficulties which re- 

 searches, of that nature must necessarily present. 



GUSTAVE MaSSON. 



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