remarkable similarity between some of the readings of these MSS. and those of the Ferrar group of cursives; but I hazarded the opinion that the Irish group was only indirectly dependent on the Ferrars through the medium of the Old Latin. I see that Bishop Wordsworth and Mr. White think it more likely that the connexion was direct; for they say of the group DELQR (p. 714). "Inter codices Graecos affinitatem notatu digniorem cum minusculis 13, 69, 124, 346, 556, qui 'the Ferrar group' nominantur, ostendunt. Sed credimus hanc familiam haud raro ex graeco correctam esse." Now D is the symbol representing the Book of Armagh, and the Oxford editors offer in support of their thesis some arguments that the scribe of that famous MS. was acquainted with the Greek tongue, I confess that I doubt his ability to correct the Latin text by the aid of a Greek manuscript. Ferdomnach knew the Greek alphabet (with the apparent exception of the letter ), and was proud of his knowledge. Several times he exhibits his capacity for writing Greek letters. But that he knew enough Greek to use it as an instrument of textual criticism, I am not convinced; nor do the phenomena presented by the Book of Armagh suggest that he had anything more than a superficial acquaintance with the Greek language. That Greek was known to some Irish scholars in the Middle Ages is, no doubt, true; but that the particular scribe who wrote the Book of Armagh was one of these select few remains to be proved.

J. H. BERNARD.

HORACE, ODE IV, 4, AND THE SECOND AENEID: SOME REMARKABLE RESEMBLANCES.

HAVING been struck by some remarkable resem

blances in Horace's fine Ode, the fourth of the Fourth Book, to the Second Book of the Aeneid, I determined to look more closely into the matter.

(1) In the first place, no one who has read the passage in the Ode (vv. 53-56)—

"Gens, quae cremato fortis ab Ilio

Iactata Tuscis aequoribus, sacra,
Natosque maturosque patres

Pertulit Ausonias ad urbes,"

can have failed to notice the intimate connexion existing between it and the subject which inspires the Second Aeneid. Here once more we have the downfall and destruction of Troy; and here the remnants of the Trojan race, destined to found in a more favoured land a mightier Ilium, make their escape from the burning city.

(2) But there is not only this intimate connexion of subject; there is, moreover, in addition to the further point noted below, a particular resemblance in the mention of the

"Sacra,

Natosque maturosque patres";

reminding us of Aeneas bringing away (v. 747)

Ascanium Anchisenque patrem, Teucrosque penates,"

the sacred things, the son, and the old father.

(3) But not only do we find striking resemblance; there is also no less striking contrast. In the Aeneid, the downfall of Troy is likened to that of a great tree, falling under the blows of the axe (vv. 626, 627):

"Ac veluti summis antiquam in montibus ornum

Cum ferro accisam crebrisque bipennibus instant," &c.

In Horace's Ode (vv. 57–60) :

"Duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus
Nigrae feraci frondis in Algido.
Per damna, per caedes, ab ipso
Ducit opes animumque ferro,"

we have the same image of the tree and the axes.

(4) Nor will it be overlooked that here, too, the tree is situated upon a mountain1; but here the tree resists the attack, and, like the Roman State, grows stronger from the struggle. It is as if the poet had the fall of Troy in mind, but in contrast to the tone of defeat and overthrow pervading this book of the Aeneid, was emphasising the rise of the Roman power from the ruins of the Trojan.

(5) Here, too, we may note a remarkable verbal coincidence. It will have been observed that Virgil employs the two words, ferro and bipennibus, to denote the axes that cut down the tree. And then we find the very same words in the Horatian passage, and in the very same forms! Moreover, this is the only place in his works where Horace uses this word bipennis: although the other

It is interesting to note, in comparing the two passages, that, in spite of the close resemblance, there is a characteristic difference in the two poets' method of treatment. In Virgil the position of the tree is not specifically indicated: indeed, the very absence of specification, the indulgence to the large roaming of the imagination, is empha

sised and encouraged by the use of the plural number in summis in montibus ; while Horace, with his habitual preference of the particular to the general, of the definite and concrete to the vague and abstract, not only names the mountain, Algidus, but describes it as he has it in his eye, clothed in its mantle of dark green foliage.

word, securis, occurs several times. Indeed, it is found in v. 20 of this Ode-if that verse is in truth Horace's.

(6) There is, further, this little point (if it is of any weight), that at another place (v. 479) in this book of the Aeneid, the word bipenni is found in close connexion with the adjective durus.

(7) Then, too, the per damna, per caedes, suggests at least a hint of the per tela, per ignes (v. 664), or the per tela, per hostes (vv. 358, 527) of the other poet.

(8) Again, as the simile of the tree is preceded in the Aeneid by the words considere in ignes Ilium, so here we find a few verses earlier the similar cremato ab Ilio.

(9) I may point out another instance of this contrast of the tone of despair with that of hopefulness. In the Aeneid, the temples are sacked and burned, and (v. 351) ;

"Excessere omnes, adytis arisque relictis,

Di."

In the Ode, on the contrary, we find the temples restored from the consequences of the impious injuries they had sustained (vv. 46-48):

Vastata Poenorum tumultu

"Impio

Fana deos habuere rectos."

(10) In another place, too, we find a curious effect of what we may term emphatic double contrast. For in the Aeneid (v. 248) we have the ominous ending of the

verse:

"Nos delubra deum miseri, quibus ultimus esset," leading to the solemn beginning of the next :

"Ille dies,"

only to be followed by the strongly contrasted :

"festa velamus fronde per urbem "

But in Horace (v. 40) the ille dies is accompanied, not by the doleful ultimus, but, in cheerful strain, by

"Qui primus alma risit adorea";

while this is immediately succeeded by the mention of the "dirus per urbes Afer."

As to the connexion, such as might be suggested by the words delubra deum and Horace's Fana deos, &c. (v. 48), see my further remarks below.

(11) A minor coincidence may perhaps be perceived in the per urbem, per urbes. The simile of the fire, which now follows in Horace, does not come in the other poem till fifty verses further on.

Then there are a number of miscellaneous resemblances, which I shall mention without any special arrangement.

(12) The tone of the vv. 70-72

Defendi possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent (vv. 291-2).

(In the Ode the words manus and defendit occur within the next two or three verses.)

(13) But I think the passage quoted ("Occidit, &c.") recalls yet more strongly the famous, the splendid, the pathetic words (vv. 324-6) :—

"Venit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus

Dardaniae. Fuimus Troes: fuit Ilium, et ingens
Gloria Teucrorum":