OBSERVATIONS On Mr. Roberts's Reply to Sir W. Drummond, ' the UPON reading Mr. ROBERTS's reply to Sir W. DRUMMOND, in your last Number, p. 65-76, I could not help remarking, (in this, indeed, the writer has himself anticipated me,) that he has been guilty of the very offence which he imputes to his adversary. With t means, presumptively, quite within his reach-for, as a reader of the Classical Journal, he has probably access to all its Numbershe has disdained, or neglected, to turn to No. XII. pp. 321-324, where the criminated abridgement is to be found; and has thus been constrained to argue hypothetically and conjecturally, where he might perhaps with a little trouble have gone upon assured grounds. He would there have found as follows: "This animal, (the ass) in its wild state, remarkably beautiful, and an emblem of liberty, Job xxxix. 5., was first, (it may be presumed,) made an object of veneration in these thirsty regions, from its peculiar sagacity-perhaps by snuffing up the air, and thence inhaling the moisture-in discovering springs of water." So much for his "If the abridgement represents Mr. B. as attributing sagacity to the ass in general, the ridicule does not attach to him," &c. p. 05. p. 66. The abridgement, I will venture to say, has not omitted one material "opinion or argument of Mr. B."-That Mr. B. could trifle occasionally, may be asserted with reference to most of his works without much fear of powerful or authorised contradiction. The Abridger may probably be concluded, notwithstanding this concession, to know how to treat his memory with a gratefully cherished respect," from the manner in which he mentions his acute, profound, and reverential disquisitions.' x11.324. Again, in p. 74., Mr. R. chooses to say, that Sir W. "led into a mistake by the abridgement," has "taken for granted that the Petra (which Mr. B. considers as the Pethor, from which Balaam came,) is the Petra of Arabia, situated near the extremity VOL. XIV. NO. XXVIII. Cl. JI. Y of the Elamitic Bay, and about ten miles to the east of Eloth; whereas the Petra intended by Mr. B. was another city of the same name, which stood at a considerable distance to the north, near the river Arnon, in the region called both Edom and Midian, in the vicinity of Moab." Surely the Abridger has some right to complain of the perverseness of both Sir W. D. and his antagonist, upon this subject, when he can quote from his own compendium the two following passages: "The Midian, of which Balaam was a priest, (probably from his great reputation, Numb. xxii. 6., the high priest,) residing at Pethor,' was an Edomite province of that name, to the east of the lake Asphaltites, peopled by the progeny of Abraham and Keturah ; and not the similarly-named region near the Red Sea, where Moses took refuge for forty years." Exod. ii. 15. And subsequently having with Mr. B. adduced five arguments to establish his position, he subjoins : "These arguments, conjunctively taken, prove that Pethor must have been an oracular city or temple in Midian, (called, also, Edom,) near Moab," &c. If such language justify such comments, as the two gentlemen in question have made upon it, the Abridger has only to lament his incapacity of writing more clearly: he may be permitted to add, that he has in vain consulted their writings for canons of greater perspicuity. Mr. R. concludes with stating his belief, that "Sir W. D. found an opportunity afforded by the abridgement, of supporting a favourite mythological hypothesis, or allegorical system of interpretation." As he has now been referred to the Number and pages of the Classical Journal, in which that abridgement is inserted, it is trusted that he will take an early opportunity of examining it; and if he discover that he has censured "too precipitately, that he will in his cooler judgment make a candid confession of it." F. R. S. 1 Called by the Greeks Пirpa. 339 INSCRIPTION On a block of white marble in the wall of a Church among the ruins of Cyreliæ. As it may be interesting to many of your readers to be furnished with the Greek text of the epistle of Titus Quinctius Flamininus to the city of Cyretiæ; some observations upon which were inserted in your 25th Number, p. 158. I now transmit you a fac-simile of the letters, as inscribed on the marble; together with a copy of the same in the cursive Greek character, and an English translation. It does not occur to me to add any remarks to those W. M. LEAKE. already in the possession of your readers. ΠΡΟΑΙΡΕΣΙΝΗΝΕΧΟΜΕΝΕΙΣ ΜΑΣ Λ. . . ΡΩΣΒΕΒΛΗΜΕΘΑ.. ΤΙΤΟΣ ΚΟΙΝΚΤΙ ΣΣΤΡΑΤΗΓΟΣ ΠΑΤΟΣΡΩΜΑΙΩΝ ΚΥΡΕΤΙΕΩΝ ΜΕΝΩΝ ΕΓΚΡΙΣΕΩΝ ΚΡΙΝΩ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΝ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΑΠΟΚΑΘΙΣΤΑΣ ΘΑΙΑΥΤΟΙΣ ΕΡΡΩΣΘΕ Τίτος Κοΐνκτιος στρατηγὸς ὕπατος 'Ρωμαίων, Κυρετιέων τοῖς Ταγοῖς καὶ τῇ πόλει χαίρειν. Επεὶ καὶ ἐν τοῖς λοιποῖς πᾶσιν φανερὰν πεποίκαμεν τήν τε ἰδίαν καὶ τοῦ Δήμου τῶν Ῥωμαίων προαίρεσιν ἣν ἔχομεν εἰς ὑμᾶς ὁλοκλήρως, βεβουλήμεθα καὶ 5. ἐν τοῖς ἐξῆς ἐπιδεῖξαι κατὰ πᾶν μέρος προεστηκότες τοῦ ἐνδόξου, ἵνα μήδ' ἐν τούτοις ἔχωσιν ἡμᾶς καταλαλεῖν οἱ οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ βελτίστου εἰωθότες ἀναστρέφεσθαι· ὅσαι γάρ ποτε ἀπολείπονται κτήσεις ἔγγειοι καὶ οἰκίαι τῶν καθηκούσων ἐς τὸ δημόσιον 10. τὸ Ῥωμαίων, πάσας δίδομεν τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ πόλει, ὅπως καὶ ἐν τούτοις μάθητε τὴν καλοκαγαθίαν ἡμῶν, καὶ ὅτι τελέως ἐν οὐθενὶ φιλαργυρῆσαι βεβουλήμεθα, περὶ πλείστου ποιούμενοι χάριτα καὶ φιλοδοξίαν· ὅσοι μέν τοι μὴ κεκομισμένοι εἰσὶν τῶν ἐπιβαλλόντων αὐτοῖς, 15. ἐὰν ὑμᾶς διδάξωσιν, καὶ φαίνωνται εὐγνώμονα λέγοντες, στοχαζομένων ὑμῶν ἐκ τῶν ὑπ ̓ ἐμοῦ γεγραμ μένων ἐγκρίσεων, κρίνω δίκαιον εἶναι ἀποκαθίστασ ·θαι αὐτοῖς. *Εῤῥωσθε. "Titus Quinctius, supreme commander of the Romans, to the Tagi and City of the Cyretians, health. Having universally manifested on all other occasions my own good intentions, as well as those of the Roman people towards you, we desire in future also to show on every occasion, that we give the preference to what is honorable, in order that those, who are accustomed to be guided by principles not the best, may not in these things find any pretext for calumniating us. All the remaining possessions therefore in lands and houses, belonging to the public treasury of the Romans, we give to your city-that in this also you may experience our goodness, and that in no instance whatever have we been covetous of pecuniary gain, setting a high value upon generosity and honor. If therefore such persons as have not been replaced in the possession of those things which appertained to them, produce to you the (necessary) documents, and appear to allege what is reasonable, I think it just, provided you find it conformable to my written adjudications, that their property should be restored to them. Fare ye well." |