263 ΤΩΝ. Οὐκῖν καὶ ὅτως ἂν, ἔφη, θεῶν ἐπιμέλοιμην ἄνωθεν μὲν γε ὅλες ΑΝΩ ΩΦΕΛΟΥΣΙΝ, ἄνωθεν δὲ φῶς παρέχεσιν. Εἰ δὲ ψυχρὰ λέγω, σὺ αἴτιος, ἔφη, πράγματά μοι παρέχων. Ταῦτα μὲν, ἔφη, ἔα· αλλο εἰπέ μοι, πίσεις ψύλλας πόδας ἐμὲ ἀπέχεις· ταῦτα γάρ σε φασί γεωμετρείν. As puns cannot be tranflated, so I fhall not attempt to translate this. I have ventured to infert ΑΝΩ before ΩΦΕΛΟΥΣΙΝ, to compleat the pun on the preceding word AΝΩΦΕΛΕΣΤΑΤΩΝ. And have likewife corrected ψύλλας and ἀπέχεις, inftead of ψύλλα and ἀπέχει. For the fenfe is, tell me "how many feet of a flea you are distant from « me :” as is plain from Ariftophanes : not as the words now are printed, void of all allufion and turn, "tell me how many feet a flea is so diftant from me.” There is a kind of pun in repeating pretty near the fame letters with the preceding word, to which the rhetoricians have given a particular name, and in making a fort of a jingling found of words. Of this the fophifts of old were fond, and they are ridiculed ingeniously in Plato's Banquet for this affectation. ΠΑΥΣΑΝΙΟΥ δε ΠΑΥΣΑΜΕΝΟΥ, διδάσκεσι γάρ με ΙΣΑ λέξειν έτωσι οἱ σοφόν. And again in his Gorgias ' Ω ΛΩΣΤΕ 18 Plat. Symp. p. 185. edit. Steph. 19 18 19 Plat. Gorg. p. 467. See Ariftot. Rhet. 1. 3. c. 9. ΠΩΛΕ, ΠΩΛΕ, ἵνα προσείπω σε xalá σɛ. i. e. to addrefs you in your own manner. Which I mention be cause the interpreters feem to misunderstand him. So in Terence. Andria, A&t I. And Virgil, Aen. VII, 295. Imitating old Ennius, Num capti potuere capi? Num incenfa cremavit Troja viros? And before, Aen. V, 136. Confidunt tranftris, intentaque brachia remis Aen. VI, 32. Bis conatus erat cafus effingere in auro, Bis patriae cecidere manus. 20 Milton, in his imitation of this place, has likewise imitated the jingle by a repetition of the fame letters. On th' Alean field I fall. VII, 19. And And Milton frequently, as B. I. . 433. "And unfrequented left "His righteous altar, bowing lowly down "To beftial Gods; for which their heads as low "Bow'd down in battel." I, 642. "Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our "fall." VI, 868. "And to begird th' almighty throne "Befeeching or befieging." IX, 647. "Serpent! we might have spar'd our coming "hither, "Fruitless to me, though fruit be here t' excefs.' Inftances in Shakespeare are without number; however I will mention one or two. Macbeth, Act. I. "What thou wouldst highly, "That thou wouldst bolily. "And catch "With its furceafe, fuccefs.", Hamlet, Hamlet, Act I. 21 "A little more than " kin, and less than kind.” Of this jingling kind are the following verses, where the letters are repeated. Homer Il.. 526. Χύνιο Χαμαὶ Χολάδες Iliad '. 307. Πρηνέα δὸς Πεσέειν σκαιῶν Προ Πάροιθε Πυλάων. Iliad. 162. Δολικὸν Δόρυ Δηίφοβος Δέ. Iliad '. 407. ἙΠτα δ' Ἐπέχε ΠΕ'λαθρα ΠΕσών. Our countryman Dryden was fo fond of this repetition, that he thought it one of the greatest beauties in poetry; and used to mention this verse of his own as an instance, When MAN on MANY Multiplied bis kind. It cannot be denied that Virgil abounds with many examples of this fort, which his commen 21 He feems to have taken this from Gorboduc, A&I. In kinde a father, but not in kindelyness. I tator 267 tator Erythraeus terms alliteratio, allufio verborum, and affonantia fyllabarum. And the ingenious Mr. Benson, the editor and admirer of Johnston's tranflation of the pfalms, lays the highest stress on this alliteration. Milton, who knew the whole art and mystery of versification, has fometimes almost every word with the fame letter repeated, as VI, 840. "Oer fbields, and belms, and helmed heads be "rode." IX, 901. "Defac'd, deflower'd, and now to death devote." And fo in other places, not fo frequent as Virgil, or Spencer. This will appear in giving an instance from Spencer, B. I. 39. "And through the world of waters wide and "deep." This line Milton has borrowed, III, 11. "The rifing world of waters | dark and deep." Where you fee that Milton has changed a word, and chufes to make this alliteration on the two laft words, dark and deep: rather than, following Spencer, to alliterate three words together, and |