150 ANALOGY of GREEK LETTERS; 



tion of the Attics ; and their method was, to ufe mertare and 

 ' pultare inflead of merfare and pulfare^ juft as Ennius ufed 

 adgrettus fori inflead of aggrejfm fari. The poets alfo have 

 taken a fide ', and, in their verfe, this letter, when a confo- 

 nant follows, is commonly expunged. Thus, — vita ilia dig- 

 nu > locoque* And — omnibu princeps : And in the Plays of 

 Plautus and Tehence, examples frequently occur." 

 Against all this hoftility which has been declared againft 

 the S, Lipsius undertakes its defence. The paflage is curious; 

 but being too long for a quotation, I refer to the work itfelf. 

 The elegant Muretus is a fpeaker in the Dialogue, and on 

 him Lips i us devolves the tafk of vindicating his favourite 

 letter ; but, like other ftrenuous advocates, he appears to carry 

 his zeal for his client too far *. 



There 



* 1 Shalt, tranflate Come excerpts from it in this note. In anfwer to Pindar's charge, 

 Muretus infifts, " That Tiyfta. has a genuine found, and every other mark of a genuine 

 " letter." And with refpeft to the epithet of S^t«^», given to it by the Halicarnaflian, 

 if the meaning be, that 2 denotes a found fimilar to the hiding of ferpents, this he thinks 

 A very ftrange objection. " Why then (fays he) don't you defpife the letter R, becaufe 

 " it is exprefiive of the noife of dogs ? M, becaufe that of oxen ? B, becaufe that of 



fheep ? For dogs fnarl, oxen low, or utter a noife which in Greek is puxdui, and in 

 . Latin mugire, and fheep bleat. But fince you call this hiffing of ferpents deteftable, 

 " tell me, what {hall you think of winds, of trees, of men ? You will not deny that they 



" whifper, and that moft agreeably. The ancient inventors of names, as if nature had 



" been their guide, denoted the moft delightful of all objefts by this letter. Look up to 

 " the heaven, there you behold the fun, the Jlars. Look down to the earth, among the 

 " things that are fweet, you find fefame znAfugar ; among the charms of love, whifpers 

 ** and ii/fes ; and among the joys of life, Jleep, fafety, foundntfs." And a little after he 

 adds, " The Attics, you fay, defpifed it. Why (hould I be furprifed that the moft fafti- 

 " dious of mortals did fo ? But the Lacedaemonians and Thebans were of a different opi- 

 " nion. At this very day, the robuft inhabitants of Germany delight in this ftrong fi- 

 " bilating found, which (let not my Lipsius be offended) is avoided by you, the delicate 

 " inhabitants of the Netherlands. You are in the wrong. But I do not point out your 

 '•' error, becaufe Lucian has already pleaded and difcufted the caufe before the tribunal 

 " of the Vowels." The fpeaker next proceeds to anfwer the objedions of Messala and 

 Quinctilian, and then (hews that the ancient writers made very frequent ufe of this 

 letter, infomuch that their infertion or fubftitution of it feemed, in his opinion, to favour 

 of affectation j and, after producing a great many instances of this, and accufing thofe 



poets 



