302
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. xn. OCT. 17, 1903.
quse jam facta, nee de salebris cogitant, ubi
via strata." Burton has the marginal
note "Lipsius." The exact reference, which
Shilleto fails to add, is the preface * Ad
Lectorem ' of Lipsius's ' Opera Omnia quse ad
Criticen proprie spectant' (vol. i. p. 191 of
the 1675 edit, of his collected works). The
original words are "Sed videlicet ita humanum
ingenium est, facilia putare quse jam facta :
nee de salebris cogitare, ubi via sit strata "
(and Lipsius proceeds to tell the story of
Columbus and the egg, beloved by the com-
pilers of school-books). Shilleto translates the
word salebris by " the trouble the road has
taken to make." Salebrce means " the rough
places" (which used to be there), and one
may appropriately compare
Had you seen these roads before they were made, You would lift up your hands and bless General Wade.
(Thus in the 'D.N.B.' in the life of Wade. Scott, ' The Highland Widow,' chap, i., quotes the lines in a slightly different form.)
Vol. i. p. 27, 1. 13 (' D. to the R.' ; p. 10, 1. 7 from foot, in 6th edit), Burton compares the reception of his book to that of Persius's satires recorded by Probus : " ' Editum librum continuo mirari homines, atque avide deri- pere coeperunt,' I may in some sort apply to this my work. The first, second, and third editions [so A. R. S., but the sixth edition and fourth edition have " edition "] were sud- denly gone, eagerly read, & as I have said, not so much approved by some, as scorn- fully rejected by others." Shilleto renders the quotation by " men began both to admire and eagerly carp at it." The meaning of "deripere," or rather "diripere," was clearly put by Casaubon (in his t,dit. of Persius, 1605, 'Notae ad Persii Vitam') " elegantissimo verbo expressit auiditatem lectorum, qui librum Persii simul ac fuit publicatus, cupide sibi quisque parabant." It thus corresponds to u the first, second, and third editions were suddenly gone."
Vol. i. p. 60, 1. 18 CD. to the R.'; p. 31, 1. 4, in 6th edit.). A. R. S. in foot-note 5 translates the well-known words of Vergil ('^En.,' ii. 390), "Dolus an virtus, quis in hoste requirat?" by " Who asks an enemy whether lie acts guilefully or virtuously?" This ver- sion is unfortunate in more than one respect. The real meaning, if I may slightly amend Conington's translation ( ' Miscellaneous Writings,' vol. ii. p. 155), is "Trick or strength of hand, who, in dealing with an enemy, would ask which?" or, to quote the same scholar's commentary, "Who, having to deal with an enemy, would draw distinctions between stratagem and hard fighting ? '
Further, it is to be noted that in quoting
this passage of Vergil Burton (4th and 6th
edits.) places a note of interrogation after
virtus as well as after requirat. Why should
this have been disregarded ? It is surely of
interest, and may often be of importance, to
know the precise form in which our author
gives a quotation. Departures, not merely
in matters of spelling, from the exact text of
Burton are annoyingly frequent in Shilleto's
reprint. A curious instance may be seen in
vol. iii. p. 165, 1. 10 from foot (Part. III.
sect. ii. memb. iii. subs. i. ; p. 511, 1. 19, in
6th edit., where, owing to the error already
mentioned, the member is given as 4). Burton
here quotes Catullus, 107, 11. 7-8, thus :
Quis me uno vivit fcelicior? aut magis hac est Optandum vita dicere quis poterit ?
Shilleto, however, by tampering with the text, makes Burton appear to be prophetic- ally aware of Lachmann's nineteenth-century emendation.
There is a singular ill fortune attaching to this quotation. Thackeray puts the lines in the mouth of General Lambert in 'The Virginians/ vol. ii. chap. ix. (vol. ix. p. 83 in the 24-vol. edition, 1869-86), and makes the general expressly say, " I got them out of my old favourite Democritus Junior put of old Burton, who has provided many indifferent scholars with learning." However, in the " Biographical Edition " of Thackeray (1901, vol. x. p. 481) the general quotes the lines as emended by Guarinus ("aut magis hac quid Optandum").
Vol. i. p. 109, 1. 20 ('D. to the R.'; p. 60, 1. 22, in 6th edit.): "Stultos jubeo esse libenter." A. R. S. translates this : " I gladly bid them be fools." Whether the words occur in any modern Latin poet I do not know. They are an adaptation of Horace, Sat. I. i. 63, 64, "miserum iubeo esse libenter | Quatenus id facit," with the old punctuation by which libenter was connected with miserum esse instead of with facit. See, e.g., Lambinus's edition of Horace, part ii. (1577), p. 12, col. 2. But libenter does not, as in Shilleto's trans- lation, go with iubeo. Compare Sir P. Sidney, 'An Apologie for Poetrie,' p. 55 (Arber), "I onely with Horace, to him that is of that opinion, ' Iubeo stultum esse libenter.' "
Vol. i. p. 503, 1. 13 (Part. I. sect. iv. memb. i.; p. 454 [sic, should be 218], 1. 5, in 6th edit.). In Shilleto's translation of the Latin version of Callimachus's " neat epigram,"
Jamque vale Soli cum diceret Ambraciotes,
In Stygios fertur desiluisse lacus, Morte nihil dignum passus : sed forte Platonis
Divini eximium de nece legit opus,
there are two errors, Ambraciotes being
