128 ANALOGY of GREEK LETTERS; 



Here the £ is double in 'ihnrev and virifourctv, that shi may be a 

 fpondee, which it could not otherwife have been. We find the 

 r alfo frequently doubled, as o, rli *, inftead of o, n. In which 

 cafes, it is fully as probable, that in the early copies of the 

 poems of Homer, fuch words were always written with a 

 fimple £ or r, as that 7rs?.a<72, and others of the fame fort, were 

 always written with a fimple <r. Sometimes we find g> , contrary 

 to the rule by which it is faid to be always doubled after the 

 fyllabic augment, (as pi^ru, Vppiwroi), written fingle by the 

 poets : thus, ippzQ, in the imperfect from p'z^a, is written firft 

 fingle, and then double, in the following verfes : 



"AXXog $ uKXu igiZf §wv aisr/iverccm f. 

 "Oiri h* ix, ippi^z Aiog nig7\ {MyuXoto £. 



In the firft of thefe lines, 5' oiKku e— is a dactyl, in which the 

 co f one of the furd diphthongs, is fhort before the firft fyllable 

 of gfs^s, by a well known practice of the poets. Nay, we find, 

 that even in the modern editions of Homer, the liquid X oc- 

 curs written fingle, when the verfe requires it to be pronounced 

 double, which Dr Clarke himfelf, with his ufual acutenefs, 

 has fhewn to be the cafe in the exordium of the Iliad. 



'Hpuav, ubrvc y zXugtu, tivjz zvveirtnv — 



where iXvgiu mud be pronounced as if it were written ixxu§i», 



rug Sk being here a fpondee. After all, it mufl be owned, that 



a- is much oftener doubled by the poets than any other confo- 



nant. Indeed, no confonant but itfelf admits of being doubled 



in the penult of the firft aorifts ||. 



There 



* Iliad, i, 294. 

 f Ibid. /3', 400. 

 $ Iliad, i, 532. In fome editions, £g|i$ is written "||c^e in the firft aorifl, which an- 



fwers the prefent purpofe as well. 

 \\ In the middle voice it is the antepenult. 



