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Orig.—πελε ξυνέριθος V. 11.
Perhaps the reading πελη σθνέριθος may be esteem'd preferable. Henry Stephens, or his printer for him, has clos'd the verse with a full stop, which should be only a comma.
Άγγελίην τἐφύλαξεν in the succeeding line has somewhat of a stiff appearance, if it is sense. May not Άγγελίη τἐσέλασε, 'nuncia fulsit,' be substituted?
Orig.—Λεανδρος, V. 20, 25; and Λείανδρος, V.28.
A Friend is displeas'd with the occasional alteration in the foregoing words, which he esteems not classical. I think, that the liberty may be justify'd from the practice of Grecian writers, who exercis'd the 'poetica licentia' to a degree that banish'd nicety. It must indeed be acknowledg'd, that Ovid uses the word, Leander, in one uniform quantity;
Corpus Leandri, spes mea, pendet aquis.
Ἢν Κυθέρης ἲερεια. V. 30.
A Friend, for whose Knowledge of the Greek language I have great veneration, has produced an argument derogatory of the Antiquity of this Poem from the expression ἃιμα λαχοθσα. "Homer," says he, "would have written "διοτρεφες ἃιμα, and omitted the subsequent verb." There is no doubt, but that it would be more elegantly so written. This objection may be obviated by throwing the word λάχουσα into the next line, λαχουσα ἱέρεια, Indeed λάχουσα would be very aukwardly placed in the first phrase; it would want a classical meaning; add to this, that Priests and Priestesses in Ancient Greece were as usually chosen by Lot, as by any other method.—Homer Il. ζ. V. 300.
Τὴν μὲν Τρωὲς ἓθηκαν Ἂθηνάιης ἱέπειαν.
It is observable (if it be permitted to enforce the above Pagan by a Christian usage) that the casting lots for the choice of Apostles evinces the general preva-lence
