PHILOLOGICAL GENIUS OF THE MODERN GREEK LANGUAGE. ol 
And I must say, generally, that in reading through the Erotocritus, I was 
more struck by the predominance of these two rich musical sounds of a 
and ov, than by any offensive accumulation of itacised syllables; and both 
in that poem and in the Klephtic ballads, my ear not seldom rested on 
lines of a full and masculine melody, not inferior to the best in Homer. 
Thus we read— 
“Odnmepodra Trorkeua TO Bpadv Kapaovr. 
“ All day we fight, and all the night we waste in sleepless watches.” 
And 
LKorover Tors Ayapnvovs, telodpa Kal KaBanro. 
“ He mows them down; the Agarenes, both foot and horse he mows them.” 
And, again, 
TIoAAy pavpidra épyerat, wavpn cav KadvaKovdr. 
“A blackness sweeps across the plain, black as a troop of ravens.” * 
And what can be more vigorous and powerful, so far as sound is concerned, 
than the following lines from the Erotocritus, describing the impatient steeds 
at a battle, eager to start at the first blast of the trumpet ? 
a / \ a \ 4 > f 
Kruroby Ta moda Tous oTHY hv, THY TKOVN avacnKoVov), 
\ Y an \ , 
To tpéEtwov avatntoby, appifovy, kal Spysevovp. 
¢ n \ N t / \ J 
H yAdooa pé TO oTopa Tous Tralfer TO yahwapt, 
/ yi / \ Wh 
Téva kal 7 adXo aypleveTo, cay KaVEL TO MoVTapL. 
Y Ne eS. \ , 
TapGovwa tous karrvifover, cvyva T aptia cadevour, 
/ 
Kal va kwnoovy Biafovrat, va tpéEovet yupevouv. 
Or, again, take the beautiful little yediddvicpa, or swallow song to welcome the 
spring, from Kinp’s collection— 
‘O ’Amplrns 6 yAukis épOace, Sev ‘vat paxpud: 
Ta movAdKia KedXadody, Ta Sevdpaxia pvdrdravOodr, 
Ta dpvidva va yevvodv dpynoav Kal va KNwooodr, 
Ta xorddia apywodv v avaBaivovy ’s Ta Bovva, 
Ta calixia va wndodv Kal va Tpobyouv Ta Kaba. 
So that, upon a broad practical estimate of the whole, I scarcely think any 
impartial person, who has taken the trouble to train his ear to the euphony of 
language (which I am sorry to see even great scholars don’t-always do), will 
pass any other verdict than this, that the old language of Homer, and PuatTo, 
and DEMOSTHENES, whatever amputations and transmutations it may have 
suffered in the course of centuries, remains still among the organs of human 
expression one of the most vigorous and the most harmonious ; as a magnificent 
* Passow: Popularia Carmenia Grecorum, ix. 2, Ixxxii. 12, xcvi. 6. 
t+ Kinp: Neugrichische Anthologie, p. 72. Leipzig. 1847. 
