Poetry The Rambler, No. 36. et 37. auctore Sam. Johnson.-Poftea autem hicce vir celeberrimus fi iniquiffimum oftendit in hoc genus poëfios in libro fuo jucundiffimo.-The Lives of the English Poets, ad fin. -Vita Joan. Gay,-et alibi paffim.' It is fuperfluous to remark, how greatly notes, containing fo much literary information, must conduce to the improvement of the juvenile reader. We cannot close our observations, without expreffing great obligation to the Profeffor for the outline, which he has prefented, of the Iambic, Trochaic and Anapaftic metres; a fubject perplexed with fo many confiderable difficulties, but which are in fome degree leffened by the ingenious scheme communicated to him by a friend. Upon this paffage we beg leave to obferve, that whether the canons of metrical criticifm be perfectly established by Porfon or not, that it is a very doubtful point. The exquifite learning and ingenuity of the preface to the Hecuba, are undeniable. But perhaps the rejection of the anapæft from the third feat of the Iambic verfe, is only a probable doctrine. ' Jam loca' (fays the author) quæ huic doctrinæ adverfantur, tam pauca funt, tam facilia emendatu pleraque, ut fi unus et alter forte fuperfint, quibus nos mederi nequeamus, non idcirco fana judicanda fint.” (Præf. ad Hecub.) But why have recourfe to conjectural emendation to establish an hypothefis, when the very paffages in question may be inftances of negligent compofition? The Comic poets, it is granted, are more licentious. May not the Tragic poets have fometimes indulged themselves in fimilar liberties? On these grounds, we think our Profeffor has too haftily admitted as certain, a canon, which ought to have been stated as dubious. Upon the whole, we are happy in having the opportunity of recommending a work, which promifes to diffufe the knowledge and love of Greek learning, which initiates the student in the arcana of the Mufes, and tends in the most effectual manner to preferve a respect for those venerable monuments, to the existence of which we owe almost every thing noble and beautiful in the productions of modern genius. ART. XXV. ΠΛΟΥΤΑΡΧΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΧΑΙΡΩΝΕΩΣ ΤΑ ΗΘΙΚΑ. Plutarchi Ch ronenfis Moralia, id eft, Opera, exceptis Vitis, reliqua. Græca emendavit, notationem emendationum, et Latinam Xylandri interpretationem caftigatam fubjunxit, animadverfiones explicandis rebus ac verbis, item indices copiofos, adjecit, Daniel Wyttenbach Hift. Eloq. Litt. Gr. et Lat. in illuftri Athen. Amftelod. Profeffor. XI. Tom. * Oxonii, E Typographio Clarendoniano 1795-1802. THO HOSE works of Plutarch, which are improperly ftyled his Morals, are very mifcellaneous in their subjects, and various in their degrees of merit. They all, however, bear evident marks of an induftrious mind, and a defire to be useful. Some of them are entitled to much higher praife: They difcover an accurate and extenfive knowledge of mankind, and the ability as well as the defire to communicate that knowledge, or to apply it to the interefts of virtue. If we confider the mifcellaneous works of Plutarch, in connexion with his Lives, the merits of which are more generally known and more easily appreciated, we fhall not hesitate to confider him as one of the most useful and entertaining of the Greek writers. It is furprifing, therefore, that his works fhould have been fo feldom edited during the last two centuries, and that, in most of the editions, there fhould have been difplayed little of the fkill and the induftry of Criticifm. This was particularly unfavourable to his miscellaneous works, in which the corruptions of the text are fo frequent and fo great, as to lef fen the pleasure and inftruction they would otherwife afford. The edition of Henri Etienne, the moft portable and convenient which has yet appeared, abounds with vacant spaces, which that editor was unable to fill up, and with corruptions fo glaring and fatal, as to defy the utmoft licence of conjectural emendation. None of the editions which have appeared fince that of Etienne, displayed a text much more full or correct. Few manufcripts feem to have been confulted, and little ingenuity exercised. It was therefore with confiderable fatisfaction that the classical world beheld the publication of Plutarch's Treatife, de Será Numinis vindicta, about thirty years ago, by Profefior Wyttenbach. Their fatisfaction was much increafed, when they beheld the manner *There are properly speaking only five volumes; but they are divid ed into fo many parts, as to be bound in eleven. There are three editions; one in 4to, and two in different fized 8va, manner in which he edited that tract, and received his promise of an entire edition of Plutarch, executed in the fame manner, and with the fame exertion of industry and talent. Part of this great and difficult work is now completed. The eleven volumes already published, comprehend the text of the Morals, a Latin verfion, and various readings. The Profeffor means to publish separately the Notes and Indices, and afterwards to proceed to the Lives. We have thought it adviseable to notice the part already published, without waiting even for the notes; becaufe fuch a corrected edition of the text as this appears to be, cannot be known or appreciated too foon; and because, from the great length of time which has been confumed on these volumes, the publication of the notes appears precarious or diftant. This work is dedicated, very briefly, to the University of Oxford, at whofe prefs it was printed. The first volume commences with a very long preface, confifting of 145 pages, divided into chapters, and fubdivided into fections. This preface to all will appear too long, and frequently too minute and tedious, and to fome entirely without intereft. But it will be read with avidity and advantage by the claffical scholar, to whom every thing which proves the authenticity and genuineness of his favourite writings, or which exalts their character, or removes their obfcurities, is important. It will not be without its use or intereft to the philofopher, who wishes to trace the productions of human induftry and skill through all the stages of their progreffive improvement, and to enter into the motives and the views, the hopes and the fears, which have operated during that time. For these reasons, and in order to relieve the drynefs of verbal criticifm, we fhall pay particular attention to the contents of the preface, and make extracts from it, where it is remarkably interesting. Delighted and astonished with the exuberant eloquence of Plato, the learned Profeffor ftill felt that he had gained little real and useful knowledge, and turned his attention to the unadorned but more folid writings of Plutarch. The difficulty which at firft retarded his progrefs, and almoft repelled him, afterwards became the point of attraction, and the fource of pleasure. Qui (Plutarchus) me, fatebor enim, primo fua quadam difficultate rejiciebat; poftea eo magis alliciebat, quo magis ad ejus familiaritatem proficerem. Animadvertebam quotidie, quantam illa patefaciendæ intelligentiæ difficultas, patefactæ fuavitatem ferret: quantam illa nominibus verbifque et tralatis et efficacibus referta, ac per complures cnunciationes continuata oratio præftantiam haberet figurarum et fen tentiarum, cum ex ipfa natura expreffarum, tum ex omní doctrinæ genere delibatarum.' Præf. p. 12. This may be called the language of pedantry or prejudice, of zeal without knowledge; but it expreffes, more or lefs fully, the fentiments of all, who poffefs that ardour and perfeverance of mind, before which the difficulties of literature and science vanish. That truth which is easily difcovered, feldom gives much pleasure, or tends to much good. He defcribes very fully the progrefs, the difficulties which he met, and the encouragement and advice he received. He exhibits a striking proof of the imperfection of human forefight, or the weaknefs of human refolution and perfeverance, even in men habituated to exertion, He hoped to have finished the publication of the Morals within ten years after the publication of his Specimen. This calculation he made, from confidering the time which he had employed on it. But thirty years, instead of ten, elapsed before the completion of his defign. The labour which he appears to have beftowed on his grand work is immenfe, and must have protracted its publication. He not only performed the cuftomary duties of an editor, in comparing editions, and collating manufcripts, but he read, with great care, almost every author of antiquity. As a proof at once of his knowledge of Greek literature, and the care and industry which he added to that knowledge, it may be mentioned, that he occupied eight months in the per ufal of Athenæus, whom, when he had not his edition in view, he had read in fifteen days. A man who can peruse a Greek author with fo much rapidity, and yet, when it is neceffary, can devote fo much time and attention to it, is well qualified for an editor. In order to facilitate his progrefs, he undertook the tedious and laborious work of index-making. Of those he completed four: the firft, of words; the fecond, of modes of construction; the third of authors and paffages mentioned by Plutarch; and the laft, of the names of men, &c. With regard to the means he followed for amending the text, he acknowledges that he first employed conjectural criticism. < Erat enim ferax emendationis partæ accurata lectione auctoris: erat eadem laboris pars jucundiffima, nec labor potius quam condimentum laboris.' Præf. p. 23. But he had alfo recourfe to all the editions and manufcripts within the reach of himfelf or his friends; and he gives a striking inftance of the happy effects of the acutenefs of conjectural cri ticism, ticifm, when joined to careful collation, in reftoring a corrupted paffage. In libello gië Aábi ßiúras, Ed. Gr. Lat. p. 1130. E. Steph. p. 2071. ita legitur: ἐδὲν ἔσιν ὑπόλειμμα σώματος τοῖς τεθνηκόσι τιμωρίας ὅπερ ἐσιν ἀνα τιτύπε δίξασθαι δυνάμενον. Cætera fatis funt plane: fed quid illud στις ἐσιν ? Poffit quis ita fententiam accipere: "Mortuis nullæ funt corporum reliquiæ, quæ poffunt illud quantum eft folidi fupplicii fufcipere," Probabilis eft fententia, nec in Latina interpretatione tantum duri habet quantum in Græca Plutarchi oratione. Ergo lectio fertur, vera habetur. At veteribus libris conferendis vidi exftare at ein in Aldina et Bafilienfibus editionibus, item in plerifque meis codicibus fcriptis: at iftud nullo modo intelligi poterat : igitur antiquus jam corrector mutavit in zig, quod patet ex collectionibus Schotti, collationibus Jannotti, et libro Poli, in quibus eft rig Stephanus, qui ex his libris fuæ ipfæ editionis fcripturam conftituebat, hoc arripuit et edidit. Equidem ut vidi veterem lectionem aïrig ei, ita ex ea cognovi veram lectionem rigas, quam recepi: et Xylandri interpretationem, neque reliquiæ corporum funt poft mortem, quæ cruciatus fuftinere poffint: ita leniter correxi et immutavi, retentis quoad ejus fieri poterat plurimis verbis: neque reliquiæ funt corporum poft mortem, quæ cruciatus inflictionem folidi capere poffent. Præf. p. 29. = He seems to have been very industrious and fortunate in the procuring of manufcripts. He laments that he could beftow no more than half a year on the collation of thofe which he found in the royal library of Paris; and gives this concife but full account of all which he confulted. • Defungimur iis notitiis, quas noftro ipfi ufu collegimus. Videmur nobis quatuor recenfiones & ætates Moralium deprehendiffe. Prima eft ante feculum xiii. ex qua ætate funt Mofcuenfes valde illi mendofi, iifque haud paulo meliores Parifienfes D. & F. iifdem tamen lacunis, quibus Aldina et Bafilienfes editiones affecti. Altera eft fub finem fæculi xiii. recuperata a Græcis Conftantinopoli, libris Plutarcheis et Vitis et Moralibus in unum volumen collectis, cujufmodi eft Codex A, fcriptus anno 1296, cum quidem librarii non tam emendata lectionis, quam collectionis omnium, qui reperiri poffent, librorum, rationem habuerunt. Tertia eft Codicis E. qui eundem librorum numerum, fed lectionem fcripturamque magis finceram habet, petitam ex vetuftioribus ac melioribus libris: fcriptus fæculo xiv. ineunte: ejufdem generis eft Palatineus, in fympofiacis etiam melior, quippe quas Codex E, a deteriore ac pofteriore manu fcriptas habet: cæterum aliis in libris cæteros ejufdem ætatia codices multum fuperaus. Quarta exftat in Codice B. cui major etiam adhibita eft emendationis cura quafitæ ex pluribus et antiquiori bus |