49 



Archytas who is supposed to ask for this boon, v. 93. If this latter 

 supposition were correct, then, of course, the first few verses, in which 

 Archytas is addressed, must be attributed to some other person, and a 

 dialogue necessarily would result. 



But let us for a moment consider the words and the sense of the 

 original. How ludicrously absurd is the notion of a corpse lying on 

 the shoro to be recognised by a passing sailor as the body of Archytas ! 

 But let this be explained by some supernatural agency, do the expres- 

 sions of the original warrant the notion that the philosopher lay 

 unburied on the shore ? " Te cohibeut, Archyta, pulveris exigui parva 

 munera." Surely this means, " The small boon of a little sand, 

 Archytas, confines thee ;" and until yes means no, and 7io means yes, we 

 cannot, instead of " The small boon," say " the absence of the small 

 boon." There would be an end of all logical interpretation, if at our 

 will and pleasure we were allowed thus to convert any sentence into the 

 very opposite by adding or removing a negative. The expression 

 cohibent (confines), moreover, clearly conveys the idea of sepulchral 

 rest.* Thus Horace uses it again in the same sense, Od. ii. 20, 8. 

 " Nee Stygia cohibebor unda."t 



We must, therefore, abide by the conclusion, that whoever addresses 

 Archytas in these lines does not see his unburied body, but his tomb, 

 which in a well-known locality " prope litus Matinum," was familiar to 

 all who frequented the coast of Southern Italy. In confirmation of 

 this view we find that stress is laid on the concluding word morituro, 

 not on the supposed misfortune of Archytas, viz : his lacking the 

 funeral rites, but on the fact of his being obliged to die, though, like 

 Tantalus and Minos, he penetrated the secrets of Jupiter in trying to 

 measure the bounds of the universe. 



The last remark leads us to discover another flaw in the usual inter- 

 pretation of this poem. It points out the close connexion between 

 verse 7 et seq. and those which precede. The first six verses state a 

 fact, and the following adduce some striking examples in illustration of 

 it. By what perversity of ingenuity can anybody break in two this 

 natural sequence of reflexion, which is all of one piece, in order to 

 make a dialogue of it! There is no question and answer — no argu- 

 ment and refutation — no attack and repartee. The whole flows down 

 like a smooth stream without the least interruption; so that, even if we 



* Baxtsr has a very good cote on thia expression : Cohibenl beue et einphatice, per totum 

 niuudiiin antea vagatuin scilicet. 



+ The primary signification of cuhibere is to confine forcibly. Tims it is used Hor. Od. 3. 4. 

 80. Pirithoum cohibent catpnu). Id. £p. ii. 255; Claustra cohibintiu Januni. The idea 

 of forcible detention is coniinou of death ; as Hor. Od. 1. 4. 16. Jam icpr'mcl iiox fabulffiijuc 

 munc-8 et domiis cxilis Piutonia. 



