Collected Studies In Greek And Latin Scholarship By Arthur Woollgar Verrall

Author : A. W. Verrall
Publisher : CreateSpace
ISBN 13 : 9781500672812
Total Pages : 380 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (728 download)

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Download or read book Collected Studies in Greek and Latin Scholarship written by A. W. Verrall and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-07-28 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THIS collection of his minor papers includes about twenty short articles already published, and five papers (though the editors In the preface promise six) hitherto unpublished. Of the former only the essay on Tyrtaeus which opens the volume seems to us all important; it illustrates Mr. Verrall's fresh, keen, stimulating re-handling of old material.... The new papers deal with a lost word in Homer, a metrical jest In Catullus, a vexed passage in Horace, the story of Orpheus and Eurydice in Vergil's fourth 'Georgic,' and the apparent confusion of Phillppi and Pharsalia. * * * * "These essays and studies by Verrall. selected by himself, exhibit well that originality and brightness and the persuasive style which made all that he wrote a delight to read." —The Athenaeum "Some of his conclusions are to he accepted, some must be rejected, but all are characteristic of the brilliant man who wrote them." —The Nation "It is only when feeling and understanding meet that any work of art can be fully valued, and it is just because Verrall has both these qualities in almost the highest degree that his contributions to scholarship are of such rare excellence. His heart and his intellect are equally sensitive, while his imagination also is ever on the alert. —The Spectator "The late Mr. Verrall was certainly not without honor in his own country; the present volume is one of many indications of the esteem in which he was held by his friends and pupils. Others who did not come into contact with his brilliant and engaging personality are perhaps less competent to pass upon the merits of his contributions to classical scholarship. This collection of his minor papers includes about twenty short articles already published, and five papers (though the editors in the preface promise six) hitherto unpublished. Of the former only the essay on Tyrtaeus which opens the volume seems to us at all important; it illustrates Mr. Verrall's skeptical attitude toward data on the lives of authors in the early periods of Greek literature has become rather general since the essay was written. "The new papers deal with a lost word in Homer ("unbroken"), a metrical jest in Catullus (xiv. 22), a vexed passage in Horace (Carm. i. 6. 17-18), the story of Orpheus and Eurydice in Vergil's fourth Georgic, and the apparent confusion of Philippi and Pharsalia. His study of Horace, Carm. i. 6 is characteristic: by the interpreter's magic power the proelia virginum become proelia nuplarum, the "pared nails" an important part of the marriage ritual, and ultimately we have Horace asserting that convivia (Mr. Verrall prefers convicia) and proelia Veneris are the typical themes of the poet of love. Pertinent as the parallel in Propertius ii. I. 45 seems to be, the reader is left somewhat dazzled by the author's cleverness and ingenuity but quite unconvinced of the sanity and inevitability of his conclusions; and this, in general, is the impression Mr. Verrall makes throughout the volume." —The Classical Journal