288 



Mr. Pickevins on the Pronunciation 



t> 



r 



01 for ti aiul /. Velastus cites a striking remark on this subject ' 

 of as old a date as the beginning of the fourth century. " Who 

 (says he) has not heard of the complaints of St. Jerom, Angus- 

 tine, and Eucherius, in respect to the word Cenomia ; which, 

 as it was written by the Greeks, sometimes Ttrivo^via., sometimes 

 xvvoy.v7a^ and at other times ^oit/6y./u^ in consequence of the idea, 

 tity of sound in all these words^ occasioned infinite trouble to the 

 interpreters of holy writ.''* But the most ancient, and I think 

 the most decisive, testimony in support of the motlern pronuncia- 

 tion of this diplitlioug is, the passage^ cited in the controversy, from 

 Thuci/dides. This author, in his unrivalled description of the 



that during that calamity, the 

 following verse, (which aged people said had been sung of old^) 

 was, among other things, brought up to recollection : 



Plague of MhenSy informs us 



9 



Up 



'H|£< A(k>^ifZKog ^oXs^og xoc) A0IM02 a/^' avrS. 



" that a dispute arose among peopl 



whether the oracle meant Xo/^oVj a pestilence^ or Xifj^oc, a famine. 

 Their present sufferings (he adds) made them suppose the former 



they adapted the oracle to the calamity of 



times. But I 

 if a famine s 

 apply the vers 



of another D 



W 



take 



7f 



they will be 

 Now, if the t 



lly ready to 

 jrds in ques- 



k 



could have been no room 



for this ambiguity ; and to all the objections of those, who reason 



upon this 



verse, as 



if it had been in writing, it is a sufficient 



answer, that the oracles were delivered oralhj.\ 



* Velusti Dissertat. p. 80. 



t This pronunciation of «;, it need hardly be observed, will destroy all i\\Q 

 supposed force and beauty of our lofty w^Xv^XohQct 5aA««-^«4 ; which we apply 



