The person, whose interpretation of Cicero is here examined, hath alfo informed us-ex abundanti-That as princeps, fo likewise primus is used for beft, or chief: which he gravely proves from Virgil, En. I. 27. veterifque memor Saturnic belli Prima quod ad Trojam pro charis gesserat Argis. There is a paffage in Terence, Eunuch. II. 11. 17. which would fuit him better: Eft genus hominum,qui effe primos fe omnium rerum volunt, Nec funt. Where primus, certainly and undeniably, means fummus, præcipuus.* See the Life of Erafmus, Vol. I. p. 552. Noted. VOL. II. N CLAUDIAN. CLAUDIA N. THIS writer fhewed his bad tafte in imitating Statius, who was too fond of Antithefes. The introduction of thefe affected ornaments and falfe beauties was the ruin of Latin poetry. Thus, to quote one inftance, out of a great many; he says, Conf. Hon. IV. 617. tergòque removit Verbera permiffi felix Injuria vott In EUTROP. II. 250. Dat cuncta Vetuftas Principium Phrygibus; nec Rex Egyptius ultrà The story is in Herodotus, II. 2. The boy was bumani expers Uberis, because he had a goat for his nurfe, and was fuckled by her, that he might not hear any human voice. Heinfius fhould not have fufpected Uberis to be a falfe reading; nor fhould a friend of mine have conjectured Indicis. The place wants no alteration. 4. Ibid. Quis meliùs vibrata puer vertigine molli Membra rotet? verrat quis marmora crinè fupino? Dacier on Horace, Carm. I. VIII. and Kennet in his Roman Antiquities, endeavour to explain this paffage, and make poor work of it. The meaning is "What boy dances with the most agility and flexibility; and is able to bend his body backward, till the hair of his head fweeps the ground?" Apuleius, I. Puer in flexibus tortuofis enervem et exoffem faltationem explicat. Nonnus. - ὅτε σροφάδεσσιν ἐρωαῖς Ορχησὴρ πολυκυκλος ἐλίσσεῖο λάιλαπι ταρσῶν. See Chryfoftom, Homil. xix. ad Pop. Antioch. and the notes of Fronto Ducæus, and Bulinger, de Theatro, I. 51. Jerom. Ep. 27. ad Euftochium: Alios rotare caput, et poft tergum terram vertice tangere. Ibid. II. 396. faveat tantum Tritonia captis, Inceptum peragetur opus. Inftead of captis it should be telis. N 2 Claudian Claudian here introduces and ridicules one Leo, who had been a weaver, and now was commander of an army. He puts in his mouth words, which are borrowed from his former occupation; as fedemus, glifcere, texitur, trahimus, &c. The word Telis is ambiguous, and means either a weapon, or a web: and Pallas was the patronefs both of foldiers and of So In Eutrop. I. 273. weavers. Tu potes alterius Studiis hærere Minerva; Ibid. II. 492. quofcumque Prometheus Excoluit, multóque intexuit athera limo, It must be either, as in fome MSS. multumque; or, which I like better, puroque intexuit: That is, as another poet fays, Queis meliore luto finxit præcordia Titan. Juvenal, Sat. XIV. 35. Claudian afterwards, v. 496. fays of the men who were made by Epimetheus, Deteriore Deteriore luto pravus quos condidit auctor, LAUD. SERENE. 31. Penelope trabat arte procos, fallatque furentes, Fifteen manuscripts have preferved the true reading, Laërtia. Stamina Laërtia means a web, defigned, as Penelope intended, to make a winding-fheet for her father-in-law Laërtes. The word Laërtia not being understood by the tranfcribers, gave occafion to thefe abfurd readings,-follertia, certiffima, lacertia, laffantia, laxantia. A manufcript alfo of Benêt College, which I once collated, hath Laërtia. HOMER, Odyff. B. 97. Μὶμνεῖ' επειγόμενοι τὸν ἐμὸν γάμον, ἐισόκε φάρος Λαέρτη ἥρωϊ ταφήϊον, &c. Of all the poems of Claudian, his two books against Eutropius are the best beyond comparison. It is eafier to write Lampoons than Panegyrics. The Alexandrians were ever remarkable for cenforiousness and fcurrility; and Claudian, being both N 3 a poet |
