of Edinburgh, Session 1864 - 65 . 401 
known to Quintilian, as is evident from the contrast drawn by him 
between Latin and G-reek in the words : — Quamquam iis major est 
gracilitas, nos tamen sumus fortiores. (3.) If adopted, it would form 
a uniform basis of mutual understanding between all persons, whe- 
ther scholars or native Greeks, who may use the G-reek language ; 
and no other uniform basis is at present possible. (4.) It would tend 
to keep up a friendly feeling between professional scholars and the 
living G-reek people — a feeling by no means a matter of indiffer- 
ence either to the peace of Europe, or to the growth of a scientific 
philology. 
VIII. But though I willingly follow the French Academicians 
in assuming the Byzantine pronunciation as the only sure historical 
basis for the pronunciation of Greek among European scholars, I 
claim the liberty of making one or two deviations from that tradi- 
tional norm in the special case of its application to ancient poetry. 
In this region the mere luxury of sound must always be a legis- 
lative element ; and as, in reading Chaucer, an English scholar of 
the present day, if he would enjoy the poetical rhythm, necessarily 
departs in some points from the pronunciation suitable for the reci- 
tation of Tennyson or even Shakspeare, so, in reading Homer, if 
I depart so far from the Byzantine basis as to pronounce ot with 
the full vocalism heard in our English word joy, rather than with 
the attenuated sound of the modern G-reek itacism, I am only using 
what every intelligent G-reek will consider a most legitimate liberty 
in the circumstances. For though I may have no means of know- 
ing how Homer enunciated his well-known 7roXu^Xoto-€oto, I am sure 
that in the early stage of a language used by such a hardy and 
vigorous people as the G-reeks the extreme gracilitas of the modern 
itacism could not have been a dominating characteristic ; rather 
it seems impossible that the pronunciation of any human language 
should have remained absolutely without change for a period of 
nearly 3000 years. 
IX. But the sound of the vowels and diphthongs, however 
important, is only one element in the proper pronunciation. Accent 
and quantity — that is, pitch, emphasis, and duration of syllabic 
sound — are matters of no less consequence, and form a no less sig- 
nificant feature in the physiognomy, so to speak, of each particular 
form of human speech. With regard to quantity, I remark simply 
3 G 
VOL. V. 
