The author then proceeds to prove that Danish cannot either be derived from the old Saxon tongue prior to the emigration, as there exists no record, or even a vestige of a tradition, of any Saxon invasion in Denmark; then he very satisfactorily demonstrates, from the roots, form, and structure of the languages themselves, that Anglo-Saxon is a Germanic tongue, but that Danish is derived from the old Scandinavian tongue, which is identical with the Icelandic.

The following roots show clearly the affinity between all four, and at the same time the nearer relationship between German and Anglo-Saxon, as also between Danish and Icelandic, than that which exists between Danish and Anglo-Saxon:

GERMANIC.

SCANDINAVIAN.

ENGLISH.

Wolte

Volde

Vilde

Vildi

Would

And where the Scandinavian and Germanic roots differ, the German resemble the Anglo-Saxon, as the Danish resemble the Icelandic.

Do
Ought to do
Through

This part of Mr. Rask's deductions is certainly most conclusive, indeed, to our mind, entirely satisfactory. He shows, from several ancient monuments, and particularly from ancient Danish and Swedish laws, the identity between the old Danish, or the old Scandinavian tongue, and the Icelandic. He points out the gross mistakes of Mr. Rühs, of Berlin, respecting the Danish and the Icelandic, then returns to the Anglo-Saxon, and shows its close affinity to the other old Germanic dialects; the Frisian, the Lower Rhine language, the Frankish, the Allemannik, and Mosogothic. The degree of relationship follows the order which we here have observed, so that, of the old Germanic languages, the Frisian is the nearest, and the Mosogothic the most distantly related to the Anglo-Saxon.

Henrick Harpestræn Danske Lægebog. Henry Harpenstreng's Danish Medical Manual from the 13th Century; translated by C. Molbech. Copenhagen. 1826.

PROFESSOR MOLBECH, principal secretary of the royal library of Copenhagen, had obtained the applause of all lovers of the northern literature of the middle ages by his edition of the Rhyme Chronicles, in 1825; and antiquarians are further indebted to him for the care with which he has edited the hitherto unknown manuscripts of the thirteenth century. We cannot, it is true, hope for any satisfactory account of the state of medical science in the middle ages, yet every attempt at its illustration must prove highly interesting; and the treatise, edited by Mr. Molbech, is almost the only relic of the ancient northern medicinal system preserved in the primitive language. The author is historically known as Henrik Harpestræng, canon of Roskild, and practising physician during the reigns of Canute and Valdemar the Second."

Medical knowledge seems to have increased very considerably when it was taken from the exclusive possession of the ecclesiastics by the foundation of universities in Europe. We must, however, acknowledge the merit of the monastic schools,-for instance, that of Salerno, where, down to the 14th century, physicians, corporal as well as spiritual, were almost exclusively formed. The most renowned among those of the northern countries who have reached posterity is Henrik Harpestræng. His work is divided into three parts, the first containing an alphabetical arrangement of the names of plants, with accounts of their officinal qualities, called⚫ Yrte Book, Herbal. We will here give a curious specimen of the author's knowledge of the medical properties of the lily. Lilium is lily. Pound lily-root with oil of olive, then it will do good to that which is burnt by fire. Pound lily-leaves, then they are good against the bite of serpents, and for the liver. Pound lily-root and boil it in wine, and lay it on the bad nails of the foot three days, it will do well. Boil it in oil, or swine grease and butter, and lay it on that which is burnt, and where no hair grows, then it is good for that. Drink lily with wine, then it purifies the injured blood of the human body, and cures the spleen. Mix juice of lily-leaves with honey and vinegar, then it is good for the sinews which are injured; and then five ounces must be of the juice, and two of honey and vinegar. It cures also dry wounds and old scars,' &c. &c.

This curious herbal seems to be a translation, or at all events an amplification, of a poem of Emilius Macer, (who lived in the 10th century), De Herbarum Virtutibus,' of which we have an octavo edition by E. Pictor Villangan, Basil, 1558. The second division of the work consists of an extract from a Latin poem of the middle ages, Eracis carmen de gemmis,' and treats of the sorts, colours, and qualities of gems, arranged in alpha

betical order.

The third division consists of receipts for the Ars culinaria,' which we think would not satisfy the calls of modern gastronomy.

The work will be found to interest the general reader, more by its pecuculiarities of language and style, than any practical information it contains. It affords an additional proof that the Danish language began to assume its present grammatical form as early as the 12th century, when it deviates from the Icelandic.

VOL. III. NO. V.

R

Sylloge

Sylloge Epigrammatum Græcorum ex Marmoribus et Libris collegit et illustravit F. Th. Welcker. Editio altera recognita et aucta. Adjecta est tabula lithographica. Bonnae.

THIS sylloge contains the epigrammata, which were published by Prof. W. in two programmes some years ago, together with a considerable number of others, partly hitherto unpublished, partly scattered in travels, journals, and periodicals. In an Epistola ad F. Jacobsium, the editor states the principles which have guided him in the classification of the inscriptions; they are divided into three classes: 1. Epigrammata Sepulcralia. 2. Epig. Ava Inμatina. 3. Epig. Promiscua. Each class is subdivided again into Insc. ex Marmoribus, and Insc. ex libris editis. Valuable critical remarks have been communicated to the editor by Niebuhr, who published himself, whilst at Rome, the Inscriptiones Nubienses; by Osann, and Letronne, who sent him two inedited inscriptions; and by E. Gerhard, who, besides recopying more correctly several inscriptions at Rome, communicated also various others which have never been published before. The greater number of the inscriptions of this sylloge, it is true, may be found among the inscriptions of Gruter, Reinesius, Gudius Hessel, in the Museum Veron., or Boeckh's Corp. Insc., but the critical notes and comments render this collection highly valuable. We refer particularly to epig. 23, 24, where the different opinions of the ancients are given concerning the places where the souls go after death; ep. 47 treats of the va in Greece; very good remarks are also added to ep. 101, on the symbolical meaning of animals on the cippi: thus, a dog was seen on the monument of Diogenes the Cynic, a lion on that of Leonidas, a lioness on that of Leana, a heifer on that of Damalis (dpa), &c. In Ep. 165, Mercury gogos, is brought into connection with a custom at Tanagra, (Paus. IX. 22, 2), where the handsomest ephebus used to carry a lamb on his shoulders at a procession round the walls of the town. The epig. 183 treats of an unknown fable, viz. that Rhea brought Jupiter into the world on the Acropolis of Pergamus, in presence of the Cabiri, the sons of heaven; which explains how Pergamus was especially sacred to the Cabiri. Paus.

I. 4, 6.

A number of archæological points are very ingeniously illustrated and commented upon by the editor, which gives an additional interest to his sylloge. His critical remarks deserve no less commendation. We beg, however, to make a few suggestions; instead of red onμa óvno we read Tons; the editor ought to have given instances where is applied to σήμα; epig. 46 ήμαρ τῶν πᾶσιν is evidently a false reading. We will insert the two first lines of the epig. to let our readers judge:

Σημ' ἐσορᾶς ἐπιτύμβιον, ὦ παροδίτα

ἦμαρ τῶν πᾶσιν, οὐχὶ δ ̓ ἐμοὶ δὲ μόνον.

Welcker translates thus: Horum quæ hic vides (sepulcri et mortis) unicuique venit dies. We do not see how r can be referred to sepulcrum et mors, whilst the epig. speaks only of sepulcrum (oña). The conjecture of Niebuhr, agro, is not very plausible; how can people sin or do wrong by dying? We propose agrav, i. e. sepulcrum quod assequitur omnes. P. 63 W. says, that the Greeks had no amphitheatres; there are, however, ruins of one near Corinth. In noticing the authors who treat of the singular fable of Calchas and Mopsus, he has forgotten the Scholiast ad Dionys. Perieg.

* The tomb was visible enough, but where was death to be seen? The words σñμa irogas do not admit of a metaphorical sense.

p. 361,

p. 361, ed. Bernhardy. The lithographic print gives a facsimile of a curious sepulchral monument, with a Greek inscription, found at Creveld, near Cologne, which is now in the library at Bonn.

Corpus Scriptorum historiæ Byzantinæ. Edit. Niebuhrii. Pars. XX. Joannis Cantacuzeni Eximperatoris historiarum Libri IV. Graece et Latine. Cura L. Schopeni. Volumen I. Bonnae, 1828.

It may be seen from Hammer's excellent History of the Ottoman Empire, how important the work of the Emperor Cantacuzene is in illustrating the history of the Byzantine empire. The Paris edition of 1645, vol. iii. fol. was printed from a manuscript belonging to the celebrated chancellor Seguier, and the jesuit Jacobus Pontanus made his Latin translation from a manu.. script extant at that time in Bavaria. It was published, in 1603, at Ingolstadt. This translation has enabled the present editor to restore the true reading in several places. Gibbon says of the Emperor Cantacuzene, ch. 63; 'The name and situation of the Emperor John Cantacuzene might inspire the most lively curiosity. His memorials of forty years extend from the revolt of the younger Andronicus to his own abdication of the empire, and it is observed that, like Moses and Cæsar, he was the principal actor in the scenes which he describes. But in this eloquent work we should vainly seek the sincerity of an hero or a penitent. Retired in a cloister, from the vices and passions of the world, he presents not a confession, but an apology, of the life of an ambi tious statesman.' A prince Cantacuzene, a descendant of this emperor, figured for a short time in Greece at the beginning of the revolution; he forced the Turks of Monembaria to surrender; but, jealous of Ypsilanti, and thwarted in his own ambitious views, he left Greece, and is now living at Dresden. The present volume contains the four first books of the history of the ex-emperor; two other volumes will contain the remainder.

Diodori Bibliothecæ Historica L. VII.-X. et XXI.-XL. Excerpta Vaticana ex recensione Ludovici Dindorfii. Accedunt A. Maji Annotationes. Lipsiæ, 1828.

MR. LEWIS Dindorf has extracted from the second volume of Mai's Collection of Inedited Authors,' the new fragments of Diodorus, and published them in a separate pamphlet. We strongly recommend the perusal of it to those persons who deride the labours of verbal critics, and consider that the emendation of the text, the comparison of various readings, in short, word-catching (as they are pleased to term it), is of far less use and importance than an explanatory comment. Mai showed himself, in his edition of Cicero de Re Publica, a good Latin scholar; but his knowledge of Greek seeins very limited, and the quiet way in which Mr. Dindorf corrects his mistakes,, and supplies his omissions, is very amusing. The edition consists of a short extract from Mai's preface; the text of Diodorus, (or rather an abridgement and selection of passages from that writer,) with critical notes, explanatory of the changes in the text, chiefly by Mr. Dindorf; and, at the bottom of the page, Mai's historical illustrations and remarks, which are generally very heavy and useless, and written in the genuine exhaustive style. We will give one or two of these notes as specimens of the author's manner. In p. 4, 1. 7, the following lines occur, in an oracle supposed to have been given to Perdiccas, "Evéa dáv ἀργικέρωτας ἴδης χιονώδεας αἶγας, Εὐνηθέντας ὑπ' ἐῶ, κείνης χθονὸς ἐν δαπέδοισιν, &c. Mai is perfectly satisfied with the sense and metre of the last hexameter, and adds this note, De variis vocabulis significationibus lege, si

R 2

placet

placet, scholia a me edita ad odysseam, ii. 1, v. 1, viii. 1. Mr. Dindorf very properly substitutes ΥΠΝΩΙ ΤΟΥ ΥΠΗΩ. In p. 128, 1. 6, is a very curious secret oath, to be taken by the partisans of Drusus; and it affords a good specimen of the violence and recklessness which distinguished the party-leaders of those days at Rome. We give a translation of it. I swear by the Capitoline Jupiter, and the Hearth of Rome, and Mars its protecting deity; and the Sun and the Earth; and the Demi-Gods who founded Rome; and the heroes who increased its empire; that I will consider the friends and enemies of Drusus as my friends and enemies, and will spare the life neither of children nor parents, unless it shall be expedient for Drusus and those who take this oath. And if I should become a Roman citizen by the law of Drusus, I will look upon Rome as my native country, and Drusus as my greatest benefactor. And I will administer this oath to as many citizens as I am able. And if I keep this oath Mr. I have all good things, and if I break it the contrary. may Mai's note is very characterestic of the Roman ecclesiastic, Ergo sectarum et conjuratorum execrandae pactionum formulae, quae nostra quoque tempora conturbant, satis antiqui moris sunt. In p. 64 this sentence occurs, τινὲς δὲ εὐτυχωτάτως τοὺς ἰδίους προανελόντες ἑαυτοὺς ἐπικατέσφαξαν, i. e. (if there was such a word as Tuxes) some having first most happily destroyed their relations slew themselves upon them. Mr. Dindori corrects sufuxoTúrws (see Porson ad Med. 553) most bravely. Mai says, 'Contradicunt jure meritoque Polybius xxx. 7, et Cicero de rep. vi. 15, cum aliis auctoribus ibi a me laudatis. These, however, are hardly fair examples of Mai's general style of annotation; many indeed of his remarks are very learned and useful, but he seems utterly devoid of any thing like acuteness or ingenuity. In p. 138, 1. 23, пsgivas, the right spelling, is preserved. See Niebuhr's Roman History, notes 858, 1039, 2nd ed. In p. 140 we have a translation of the inscription which Pompey the Great set up in the temple of Minerva, as a record of his services and victories. It is rather long; but we must run the risk of tiring some of our readers with translating that which may perhaps interest others. Pompey, the son of Cnaus, the great general, who freed the shores and all the islands of the Mediterranean from the pirates; who had formerly defended Galatia, the empire of Ariobarzanus, when besieged by the enemy; together with the provinces of Asia and Bithynia; who defended Paphlagonia and the Pontus, Armenia and Achaia, with Iberia, Colchis, Mesopotamia, Sophene, and Gordyene; who subjugated Darius king of the Medes, Artoces king of the Iberians, Aristobulus king of the Jews, Aretas king of the Nabatean Arabs, and Syria by Cilicia, Judea, Arabia, Cyrenaica, the Achæans, Zygians, Soanians, Heniochians, and the other maritime tribes between Colchis and the lake Mæotis, with their kings, nine in number, and all the nations which dwell on this side the Black and Red Seas; who advanced the boundaries of the Roman empire to the limits of the earth; who maintained and increased the revenues of Rome; and who took from the enemy the statues and the sacred ornaments and other valuables; consecrated to Minerva 12,060 pieces of gold, or 307 talents of silver,' (about 60,000l.) In p. 15, Diodorus gives the oracle of Apollo to Battus at much greater length than Herodotus. The 4th and 5th lines stand thus in the MS. ἔνθα σε βάρβαροι ἄνδρες, ἐπὰν Λιβύης πιβαίης, Βαττοφόροι ἐπιοῦσι οὐδ ̓ εὐχόμενον ἠρανίοιο, Παλλάδι τ' ἐγρεμάχῃ, &c. Dindorf reads, ἔνθα σε βάρβαροι ἄνδρες, ἐπὰν Λιβύης ἐπιβήῃς, Βαττοφόροι ἐπίασι· σὺ δ' sixóμsvos Kpovíwn, &c. There is also, in p. 3, an important addition to the verses from the Eunomia of Tyrtæus, which contain the supposed mandate The line of Apollo for the establishment of the Spartan constitution. δήμου τε πλήθει νίκην καὶ κάρτος ἕπεσθαι is an additional and strong confirmation

Mr.

of