Particular!}' of the LETTER -IITU A. 141 



offended even with a moderate ufe of 17'yua, in tlie Greek. 

 DiONYSius of HalicarnalTus, in particular, has faid, that " the 

 " Uyf/M is harfh and iinpleafant, and when unneceilarily re- 

 " peated, exceedingly offenfive ; for its hiffing. feems to be con- 

 " nedled with what is wild and irrational, rather than with the 

 "voice of rational beings. Wherefore (continues he) fome 

 *' ancient authors ufed it but feldom, and with caution, and 

 " others compofed whole odes without this letter *." 



To condemn, however, the ufe of this letter on all occafions, 

 either becaufe its found refembles the hifHng of a ferpent, or 

 perhaps becaufe the found of hiffing has been an ufual mode of 

 exprefllng diflike in different ages and nations of the world, 

 would be a faflidious and hypercritical method of judging. 

 Herodotus, the fweetefl of all profe writers, furniflies a va- 

 riety of fuch periods as the following : K^oxohiXn? ^e Imyig 

 ii\iou^a,trci(,Vy iitici(jyiiT£? avrav to. \tOia, Toia't ■za.pa, (7(piiTt yivofA.ivoio'i 

 x^ox.ohd'Koiiri roKTi iv T^ffi a,tfit,cccri^iri 'f. From this we may infer, 

 that the Ionic Greeks were not very much difgufled even with 

 a frequent repetition of the llyfji^a. Biit fuch a paffage, not only 

 on account of the frequent occurrence of STy^w-a, but alfo of 

 lira, would have been intolerable to an Attic ear, which feems 

 to have had a particular averfion to the repeated ufe of the 

 letter in queflion, and induced that refined people to prefer the 

 double 77 to the double a-ff in a great many of their words ; as 

 when they faid 6a.'Kcc77a. inftead of SciXaffcrct,, -jr^ccrTco inftead of 

 r^ktrtra, and even av^i77u inflead of (rv^'urtru, to hifs. The propri- 

 ety of fuch a change, however, feems to have been the fubjecfl 

 of difpute among fome of the ancient writers, and gave occa- 

 bon to a. Jeu d^ejprit of LuciAN, which, has defcended to our 



times, 



* "A;(;ogi Si kJ aiiJi! to a-, xa) h ■nMctcurtii, i7(fii'§^ci Aujrsr SngiwJa? yaf xec) uXiyn f^aXMv v 

 Aoymti ifuTTTi^^cci ior.il (pmrii o irv^ly)lii' Twi' ySv traXot'oiv c-7rcc>ia( i^^Ztri tive; uvru xx)- 

 •Jn^vXety^Akvai^* Eia* ii oi affty^tie uSxs oA«5 iiroitii^ Tiii) ctv^-, OvofAXTt Edit, Reiski}-,. 



Vol. V. p. 80. 



/ 



-}- Book 11. chap. 69* ' 



