Particularly of the LETTER 2 I T MA. i 4.T 



offended even with a moderate ufe of lly^a. in the Greek. 

 DiONYSius of HalicarnafTus, in particular, has faid, that " the 

 " llyfMx. is harfh and unpleafant, and when unneceffarily re- 

 u peated, exceedingly offenfive ; for its hiffing feems to be con- 

 " necled with what is wild and irrational, rather than with the 

 "voice of rational beings. Wherefore (continues he) fome 

 " ancient authors ufed it but feldom, and with caution, and 

 " others compofed whole odes without this letter*." 



To condemn, however, the ufe of this letter on all occafions, 

 either becaufe its found refembles the hiffing of a ferpent, or 

 perhaps becaufe the found of hiffing has been an ufual mode of 

 expreffing diflike in different ages and nations of the world, 

 would be a faftidious and hypercritical method of judging. 

 Herodotus, the fweetefl of all profe writers, furnifhes a va* 

 riety of fuch periods as the following : KgozofeiXxg £s Imeg 

 wofjccurciVt etzoi^ovTsg avrm rot, \ihtcc rolci -raga, (r<pt<ri yivo^voiff^ 

 xgozofoihoitri roTcri \v ry<ri cupuffiriffi j\ From this we may infer, 

 that the Ionic Greeks were not very much difgufled even with 

 a frequent repetition of the ITiypu. But fuch a paffage, not only 

 on account of the frequent occurrence of STy^a, but alfo of 

 lira,, would have been intolerable to an Attic ear, which feems 

 to have had a particular averfion to the repeated ufe of the 

 letter in queftion, and induced that refined people to prefer the 

 double rr to the double <r<r in a great many of their words ; as 

 when they faid 0aXurra. inftead of $aXac<ra, vgar™ inflead of 

 Tgu.<r<ra, and even ovqitto) inflead of <rv^<r<ru y to hlfs. The propri- 

 ety of fuch a change, however, feems to have been the fubject 

 of difpute among fome of the ancient writers, and gave occa- 

 iion to a jeu (Vefprit of Lucian, which has defcended to our 



times, 



* "A^agi Si t£) uySii to a, xx\ e» "rrMot&etily pipi^ga, Xvnu' SygivSes yug xx\ aXoya paKkov \ 

 ^oy*K?j lQ&7rTi<r$txi dox.u ^>avi; o <rygiy/*oV twv yUv wxhxttov <77rav/ui l^utTo t;v£j uutw xxl- 

 ititpv'h.xyyik'iac,' hoi Si o< daiyftm uSxs oA«s liroiat'' H.1%) avtS: 'Ovopxr. Edit. R.EISKH-,, 



Vol. V. p. 80. 



/ 

 f Book II. chap. 69,. ' 



