"Great wits are sure to madness near allied,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide."
DRYDEN's _Absalom and Achitophel_, st. i. I. 163.
"The tenth transmitter of a foolish face."
SAVAGE.
"When Greek meets Greek then comes the tug of war."
NAT. LEE.
The real line in Lee is--
"When Greeks join Greeks then was the tug of war."
LEE's _Alexander the Great_.
J.W.G. GUTCH
* * * * *
I wish to ask a few questions, referring to these lines, if you do not
think the subject already exhausted by Mr. Rimbault's curious and
interesting communication.
1. Does not the _entire_ quotation run somewhat thus:--
"For he that fights and runs away
May live to fight another day;
But he that is in battle slain
Can never hope to fight again"?
2. Are the two last lines in the _Musarum Deliciae_?
3. May not the idea suggesting the two first lines be traced to some
passage in one of the orations of _Demosthenes_, and, PAST him, to the
"[Greek: Anaer ho pheugon kai palin machaesetai]" of some contemporary,
if not still older writer?
4. Whose _Apothegems_ [qy., those of Demosthenes?] are under
consideration on folio 239.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25