«5«> ANALOGY of GREEK LET fERS; 



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tion of the Attics ; and their method was, to ufe mertare and 

 " pultare inflead of merfare and pulfare^ juft as Ennius ufed 

 adgrettus fart inftead of aggrejfus far'i. The poets alfo have 

 taken a fide ; and, in their verfe, this letter, when a confo- 

 nant follows, is commonly expunged. Thus, — vita ilia dig- 

 " ««' locoque. hvA—omnibu princeps '■ And in the Plays of 

 Plautus and Terence, examples frequently occur." 

 Against all this hoftility which has been declared againft 

 the S, Lipsius undertakes its defence. The paflage is curious; 

 but being too long for a quotation, I refer to the work itfelf. 

 The elegant Muretus is a fpeaker in the Dialogue, and on 

 him Lipsius devolves the tafk of vindicating his favourite 

 letter ; but, like other ftrenuous advocates, he appears to carry 

 his zeal for his client too far *. 



There 



* 1 siiALi tranflate (bme excerpts from it in this note. In anfwer to Pindar's charge, 

 MuRETus infills, " That Xiyfta has a genuine found, and every other mark of a genuine 

 " letter." And with refped to the epithet of %^>uin, given to it by the Halicarnaflian, 

 if the meaning be, that X denotes a found fimilar to the hiifing of ferpents, this he thinks 

 a very flrange objeftion. " Why then (fays he) don't you defpife the letter R, becaufe 

 " it is expreffive of the noife of dogs ? M, becaufe that of oxen ? B, becaufe that of 

 fheep ? For dogs fnarl, oxen low, or utter a noile which in Greek is itvKiiu; and in 

 " Latin mugirc, and (lieep bleat. But fince you call this hiffing of ferpents deteftable, 

 " tell me, what ftiall you think of winds, of trees, of men ? Vou will not deny that they 



" whifper, and that moft agreeably. The ancient inventors of names, as if nature had 



" been their guide, denoted the mod delightful of all objefts by this letter. Look up to 

 " the heaven, there you behold theyun, t)\tjlan. Look down to the earth, among the 

 " things that are fweet, you findfefame znd/ugar ; among the charms of love, whifpers 

 " and kijfes ; and among the joys of life, Jle'p, fafety, foundnefs." And a little after he 

 adds, " The Attics, you fay, defpifed it. Why (hould I be furprifed that the mod fafti- 

 " dious of mortals did fb ? But the Lacedaemonians and Thebans were of a different opi- 

 " nion. At this very day, the robuft inhabitants of Germany delight in this ftrong fi- 

 " bilatin^ found, which (let not my Lipsi«s be offended) is avoided by you, the delicate 

 " inhabitants of the Netherlands. You are in the wrong. But I do not point out your 

 '■ error, becaufe Lucian has already pleaded and difcufled the caufe before the tribunal 

 " of the Vowels." The Ipeaker next proceeds to anfwer the objedions of Messaia and 

 QoiNCTiLiAN, and then (hews that the ancient writers made very frequent ufe of this 

 letter, infbmuch that their infertion or fubftitution of it feemed, in his opinion, to favour 

 ■of affeftation ; and, after producing a great many inilances of this, and accufing thofe 



poets 



