Particularly of the LE TTE i? 2 1 F M A. 149 



" They lament and deplore their hard fate, and often execrate 

 " Cadmus for introducing this T«u among the number of the 

 " letters. For they fay that tyrants, taking the hint from the 

 " appearance, and imitating the form, of this letter, did fa- 

 " bricate gibbets to hang men upon ; and hence this moft 

 " mifchievous contrivance obtained its odious name *. For all 

 " thefe crimes, how many deaths do you fuppofe this TaS de- 

 " ferves ? For my own part, I reckon the only punifliment 

 " adequate to his guilt would be to hang him upon a machine 

 " of his own fhape ; for it was owing to him that there was ever 

 " fuch a thing in the world as the figure or the name of a 

 " gallows." 



Thus far Lucian j and it muft be owned that the ludicrous' 

 manner was the moft proper that could be employed in treating 

 fuch a fubje<fl:. LiPSius, in his Dialogue de reSla pronunciatione 

 Lat'tna lingua, has obferved, " That many attack the reputation 

 •* of the letter S, and even form a defign againft its life." — 

 famam ejus multi petunt, imo vitam, — And he adds an enumera-- 

 tion of thofe enemies. " Pindar (fays he) reproaches it, and 

 " calls it xi(S^ri\ov, fpurious, and, out of hatred to it, is faid to 

 " have compofed verfes without its afliftance. Dionysius the 

 " rhetorician, in exalting the "Pu, undervalues this letter, and 

 "brands it with the vile epithet o£ ^ri^ta/iti, favage. All the 

 " Attics deteft it, and generally have fubftituted TaZ in its 

 " room. Latin authors feem to join in the confpiracy ; and, 

 " among men of rank. Me s sal a fays it is not even a ktur, 

 " but only a hi/s. Among teachers, Quinctilian pronounces 

 " it to be a rough letter, and harfh in the combination of 

 " words. Nay, even the ancient writers rejeded it, in imita- 



" tion 



* " Verisissima vocis rrav^li originatio : rav, Toti/nfo?, hoc eff in modum t«£! efFor- 

 " matus : et per contraftionem ranfos* et praepofito figma ut fieri fokt, i-xvfii." Me- 



NACIUS. 



