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CRITICAL NOTES: 

 CHIEFLY ON THE DE LEGIBUS OF CICERO, 



BY W. D. PBARMAN, M.A., 

 Classical Tutor and Registrar, University College) Toronto. 



In sect. X. of the Treatise of Longinus, "De Sublimitate," the 

 last sentence of the section has been described by editors as a " locug 

 plane condamahis." It reads as follows : Au/xatverac yap Tobra to 

 vXov wadvsi (p-qyiiara rj apaidiixara kp-i^oioovra iizyidt] ffuvocxovofj.oufj.sva 

 (v. 1. ffuvoixodofjoufLsvaj rrj rs T^pbq aXXjjka ff^iaei ffovTereiy_(.ffij.iva. Among 

 other alterations, it has been proposed to insert the article xa before 

 ifxTcoioovra. The chief objection to this reading, in my opinion, is, 

 that the force of the preposition, in the compound ifinocouvra, is 

 neglected. A proper attention to this will, I think, give us the key 

 to the sentence. Longinus says that the most prominent rncidents 

 are alone selected, nothing which does not add to the dignity of the 

 subject being foisted in, " for such things mar the whole, introducing 

 shavings or splinters, as it were, into lofty structures compacted 'and 

 built up together by their mutual relation." In cases where a verb 

 compounded with a preposition is employed, we not unfrequently 

 find, either from the negligence of the copyist or of the writer him- 

 self, that a preposition is omitted which should properly follow the 

 compound verb. In the present case, we should expect, according tc? 

 Attic iisage, SfiTvocodvra iq fieyid-q ; but, as Longinus does not always 

 conform to the rules of Attic Greek, there does not appear to be any 

 particular necessity for meddling with the text. 



In the "De Legibus," of Cicero, Bk. I. ii, 7, the MSS., as quoted 

 by the different editors, exiiibit a variety of unintelligible readings. 

 The following is said to have most authority in its favour : " Nam 

 quid Macrum numerem ? cujus loquacitas hahet aliquid argutiantum — ■ 

 in orationibus autem multas ineptias, datio (or dado) summam impu 

 dentiam. According to this reading, the chief difficulty is the word 

 datio. What is datio ? All the editors admit that it is a corruption ; 

 but there is considerable difference of opinion as to what should be 

 substituted for it. No reading, except elatio, appears to have found 



