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Page 19
[Sidenote: Father _Brumoy_ mistaken.]
V. The Learned Father _Brumoy_ too, who has lately given us three
Volumes upon the _Theatre_ of the _Greeks_, has slipt into an Error
about _Sophocles_; for, speaking of his _Antigone_, he tells us, it
was in such Request as to be perform'd Two and Thirty times; _Elle
f�t represent�e trente deux fois._ The Account, on which This is
grounded, we have from the Argument prefix'd to _Antigone_ by
_Aristophanes_ the Grammarian: and the _Latin_ Translator of this
Argument, probably, led Father _Brumoy_ into his Mistake, and
he should have referr'd to the Original. The _Greek_ Words are;
+lelektai de to drama touto triakoston deuteron+. i. e. "_This _Play_
is said to have been the _Thirty Second_, in Order of Time, produced
by_ Sophocles."
The Mistakes, that I have mentioned, (tho' they necessarily lead
into Error, from the Authority with which they come into the World;)
yet are such, 'tis obvious, as have been the Effects of Inadvertence;
and therefore I do not quote them to the Dishonour of their Learned
Authors. I shall point out Two or Three, which seem to have sprung
from another Source: either a due Want of Sagacity, or an absolute
Neglect of _literal Criticism_.
[Sidenote: Sir _George Wheler_ corrected.]
VI. Sir _George Wheler_, who, in his JOURNEY into GREECE, has traded
much with _Greek_ Antiquities and Inscriptions, and who certainly
was no mean Scholar, has shewn himself very careless in this
Respect. When he was at _Sardis_, he met with a Medal of the Emperor
_Commodus_ seated in the Midst of the Zodiack with Celestial Signs
engraven on it; and, on the other Side, a Figure with a Crown-Mure
with these Letters about it, +Sardis Asias, AUDIAS, Hellados,
1' metropolis+: __Sardis_, the first Metropolis of _Asia_, _Greece_,
and _Audia_._--But where and what _Audia_ was, (_says He_) I find
not. Now is it not very strange, that this Gentleman should not
remember, that _Sardis_ was the Capital City of _Lydia_; and,
consequently, that for +AUDIAS+ we should read +LYDIAS+? Tho' my
Correction is too obvious to want any Justification, yet, I find, it
has One from the Learned Father [D]_Harduin_; who produces another
Coin of _Sardis_ (in the _French_ King's Cabinet) which bears the
very same Inscription, only exhibited as it ought to be.
[Footnote D: In his _Nummi Antiqui illustrati_.]
Nor was This a single Inaccuracy in Sir _George_. I'll instance in
Two pretty Inscriptions, the One an _Epitaph_, the other a _Votive
Table_, which He has given Us, but in a very corrupt Condition. Tho'
I have never been in _Greece_, nor seen the Inscriptions any where
but in _his_ Book, I think, I can restore them to their true Sense
and Numbers: And, as they are particularly elegant, some Readers
will not be displeas'd to see them in a State of Purity.
[Sidenote: An _Epitaph_ corrected and explained.]
VII. _Of the Antiquities of _Philadelphia_ (says he) I had but a
slender Account; only I have the Copy of one Inscription, being the
Monument of a _Virgin_, in these three Couplets of Verses_. But she
was so far from being a _Virgin_, that the Epitaph shews her to have
been a _Wife_; that it was put up in Memory of Her by her _Husband_;
and that she dy'd in the Flower of her Youth at the Age of twenty
three.
+Xantippen Akyla mn�m�n [1]biou pared�k�n
B�m� [2]teim�sas semn� taut�n alochon;
Parthenon h�s apelyse mitr�n �SDRION anthos
Esken en h�mitelei pausamenon thalam�.
Treis gar ep' eikosious tele�se [3]bion eniautous,
Kai meta tousde thanen [4]toutou lipousaphaos.+
[Notes:
1: +biotou pared�ken+.
2: +tim�sas semnotat�n+.
3: +bious'+.
4: +touto lipousa phaos+.]
I have, for Brevity's sake, mark'd the general Corrections, which I
have made, at the Side. The third Verse is neither true in Quantity,
nor Language: +�SDRION+ is a Monster of a Word, which never could
be the Reading of any Marble. As I correct it, we recover a most
beautiful Couplet.
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