logical, makes slavery the summum bonum of society, and the defense of it a paramount duty, both of citizen and government. It furnishes a striking example of the hysteron proteron, or "cartbefore-the-horse," so characteristic, now-a-days, of southern logic, in soberly attributing the enhanced value of slave property at the south, solely and simply to the conviction that has so universally taken possession of the southern mind, that slavery is the divinely appointed status of the negro, and hence the negro a piece of rightful and perpetual property; whereas, to the logic of common sense, this pious conviction, so far from being the cause of the four-folding of the value of slave property, is simply the natural consequence of it, while the four-folding itself has been due, not to the master's quickened moral perceptions, but to his quickened commercial astuteness, and the enhanced value of the cotton crop, with the consequent demand for slave labor. Interest begets strange logic, the world over.

HISTORY.

RAWLINSON'S HERODOTUS.*-Scholarship will never be satisfied with a single translation of any one of the ancient classics. So great is the difficulty of making a translation which shall completely represent, both in matter and form, those high wrought productions, that in the successive generations of scholars there will always be found some to attempt improvements upon their predecessors. Hence it happens that of the most important classical authors, we have a series of translations, representing to some extent the scholarship of the age which produced them. The earliest translation of Herodotus was published in 1584, entitled "The famous History of Herodotus, London, 4to, by B. R," probably Barnaby Rich. The next was a translation by Isaac Littlebury, and was entitled "The Egyptian and Grecian History of Herodotus," "a poor rendering," says Cary, "of a poor Latin version." This was followed by the well known translation of Beloe, first published in 1791,

The History of Herodotus. A new English version, edited with copious notes, and appendices, illustrating the history and geography of Herodotus, from the most recent sources of information; and embodying the chief results, historical and ethnographical, which have been obtained in the progress of cuneiform and hieroglyphical discovery. By GEORGE RAWLINSON, M. A., late Fellow and Tutor of Exeter College, Oxford. Assisted by Col. Sir HENRY RAWLINSON, K. C. B., and Sir J. G. WILKINSON, F. R. S. In four volumes, with maps and illustrations. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 346 and 348 Broadway. 1859.

London, a translation of a translation, it being from the French. Beloe, though an inaccurate scholar, writes in an easy, fluent style. Cary falls into the remarkable error of placing Beloe's translation before Littlebury's, though it was later by almost a century. In 1827 came forth a new version by Laurent, who labored under the two-fold disadvantage, according to Cary, "of being an inaccurate Greek scholar, and a far worse English one." Isaac Taylor, in 1829, published a very exact and elegant version, which however has never attained to the popularity it deserves. Cary's came forth in 1847, and was published in Bohn's Classical Library. This brings us to Rawlinson's edition, first published in 1858, but announced as early as 1851. Rawlinson, in his account of previous versions, makes no mention of Cary's, and, indeed, both Cary and Rawlinson are very inaccurate in their statements on this point.

Both these versions represent sufficiently well the accurate scholarship of the age, but with respect to style, we much prefer Rawlinson's. We select two passages as examples. The opening sentence Cary translates-"This is a publication of the researches of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, in order that the actions of men may not be effaced by time, nor the great and wondrous deeds displayed both by Greeks and Barbarians deprived of renown:—and amongst the rest, for what cause they waged war on each other." Rawlinson thus:- "These are the researches of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, which he publishes, in the hope of thereby preserving from decay the remembrance of what men have done, and of preventing the great and wonderful actions of the Greeks and the Barbarians from losing their due meed of glory; and withal to put on record what were their grounds of feud." Each of these translations represents the sense of the original, without addition or subtraction, but they differ much in point of English style. Cary's is stiff, in the last clause extremely awkward, and nowhere has the stamp of genuine English. The last clause has no proper connection with the preceding "in order that,"-the use of "wondrous" instead of "wonderful" shows little skill in the choice of words. Rawlinson's translation, on the other hand, is easy, fluent, and so near to genuine English that it reads like an original sentence, not like a translation. This impression of genu- ́ ineness of the sentence being an original one, fresh from the mind of the writer-depends upon several slight departures from the forms of expression in the Greek. Thus, it was well done to translate the substantive, arodsiğis, publication, by the relative sen

tence which he publishes, as being much nearer to what an English writer would have said. So too, the clause, "in the hope of thereby preserving from decay," is much nearer English than the proposition, "in order that the actions of men may not be effaced by time," though this is an exact transcript of the form of the thought in the Greek, while on the other hand the verbal translation of sà yɛvóueva έž dvěρrúπwv, what men have done, is better, we think, than the translation which converts the participle into a substantive, the actions of men. The Greeks like the participle better than the corresponding abstract substantive, and we can use the same construction with equal facility. Rawlinson's translation of the last clause cannot be bettered.

It is one of the infelicities of criticism that it takes many words to explain what is felt to be true the moment it is presented. In the other passage which we now select for comparison, we shall be obliged to leave it with the reader without much explanation. It is from the speech of Tomyris, queen of the Massagetae, to Cyrus, after the defeat of her army, and the death of her son. Cyrus, insatiate with (?) blood, be not elated with what has now happened, that by the fruit of the vine, with which ye yourselves, when filled with it, so rave that when it descends into your bodies, evil words float on your lips, be not elated, that by such a poison you have deceived and conquered my son, instead of by prowess in battle." B. I, § 212. On reading this sentence we know, without turning to the original, that it is an exact transcript, word for word, proposition for proposition. It is precisely one of those sentences which are popular with beginners in Greek. But it is not a well constructed English sentence, though it may be parsed. We say "a well constructed English sentence," because to the Greek, who was accustomed to sentences carried forward by numerous subordinate propositions and participial constructions, and closely bound together by particles, the construction must have appeared admirable, and perhaps, if we trace the thoughts as they must have arisen in the mind of the Greek reader, we shall ourselves admit that the more closely compacted and periodic form of the Greek is in itself better than the looser form of the English. Observe now, how Rawlinson, by converting subordinate propositions into principal ones, gives to the sentence a genuine English form. "Thou blood-thirsty Cyrus, pride not thyself on this poor success: it was the grape juice—which, when ye drink it, makes you so mad, and as ye swallow it down brings up to

your lips such bold and wicked words—it was this poison wherewith thou didst ensnare my child, and so overcamest him, not in fair open fight." The original Greek verb, kravarλwew, means literally to sail up, (as up a stream,) against (for attack.) It is here used figuratively, and in contrast with xariovros, though Rawlinson judiciously gives up the figure; the contrast is obvious, "as the wine goes down, the evil words come up." Cary however destroys the contrast by rendering "evil words float on the lips ;" he keeps the figurative allusion indeed, but makes it ridiculous by changing it. We have read the version of Mr. Rawlinson with care, and think it most excellent-by far the best which we have of Herodotus. It approaches the ease and grace of the original, and in words and phrases reminds us of the antique simplicity of the Old Testament. It abounds in Saxon words and idioms; is easy, natural English; and we read it without thinking of its being a translation.

But not mainly on account of the excellence of the translation would we recommend this edition of Herodotus; it has another and far greater merit. Herodotus has brought into his history notices of the most celebrated nations of his time, and it so happens that most of these nations are objects of universal interest even to this day, and that with respect to some of them, Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia, their very earliest history has been of late revealed to the world by the researches and discoveries of modern scholarship. Now it is the peculiar object of the present edition to present what Herodotus delivered concerning these countries more than two thousand years ago, side by side with what the decyphered inscriptions on temples, rocks, papyrus-rolls, bricks, and cylinders, have revealed to us from a silence of much more than two thousand years. Herodotus was the earliest of travelers and explorers. His knowledge of Egypt, Asia-Minor, and of Greece Proper, was extensive and minute. He had visited most of the celebrated cities of the ancient world: Thebes, Memphis, Heliopolis; Babylon, Susa, Sardis; Athens, Thebes, Sparta. In Greece he had traced the route of Xerxes's army from Sestos to Athens, examined the battle fields of Thermopyla, Platæa, and Marathon, and visited the shrines of Delphi and Dodona. Everywhere, impelled by the most ardent curiosity, he examined with his own eyes whatever appeared to him most worthy of note, or gathered the testimony of eyewitnesses, or read as far as he could through interpreters and priests the records of ancient histories, or scrutinized the traditions

of the earlier times, and then, collecting all these materials, so arranged them in his great work as to exhibit a picture of whatever was most remarkable in the ancient world. But Herodotus knew no language except his own. Hieroglyphs and cuneiform inscriptions were dead languages to him. Sir Gardner Wilkinson and Sir Henry Rawlinson can do what Herodotus could not; they can read the history of Egypt and Babylonia and Persia from writing upon rocks, temples, palaces, papyrus-rolls, bricks, and cylinders, and it is the results of these readings with which we are presented in these volumes, to compare and contrast with what we find in Herodotus.

It is rare to meet with such a felicitous combination of various gifts and acquirements in one and the same work. This edition furnishes the best version of Herodotus that has ever been made, while the comparison of modern results with the ancient is conducted by the two men in the world of scholars, who are best qualified to make it, Sir Charles Rawlinson and Sir Gardner Wilkinson.

In order to show how much has been done by these two gentlemen, we enter into some detail. The first book of Herodotus treats especially of the Lydians, Medians, Persians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. The version of this book is followed by a series of Essays on the same subjects, in which the results of modern investigation are brought together and arranged, namely: 1. On the early Chronology and History of Lydia; 2. On the physical and political geography of Asia Minor; 3. On the Chronology and History of the great Median Empire; 4. On the ten tribes of the Persians; 5. On the religion of the Ancient Persians; 6. On the early history of Babylonia; 7. On the chronology and history of the great Assyrian Empire; 8. On the history of the later Babylonians; 9. On the geography of Mesopotamia and the adjacent countries; 10. On the religion of the Babylonians and Assyrians; 11. On the ethnic affinities of the nations of Western Asia. These, with chapters On the Life of Herodotus, On the sources from which he compiled his history, and On his Merits and Defects as a historian, take up nearly three quarters of the first volume. The Essays are by Sir Henry Rawlinson. The second Book treats of Egypt, and to this are appended eight chapters, on various important topics connected with Egyptian manners and history, by Sir Gardner Wilkinson. The third Book at length introduces the reader to