do you come? why are you a suppliant to me? what man or woman have you slain?" "O king!" replied the stranger, "I am the son of Gordius, who was the son of Midas. My name is Adrastus 55 unwillingly I have killed my brother, for 55:

which I am banished by my father, and rendered

entirely

Whether they came to expiate the guilt

Of friends' or strangers' blood, by treach'ry spilt.

Fawkes's 'Apollonius Rhodius.

See also the Orestes of Euripides. I use Woodhull's translation.

In ancient days our sires this wholesome law
Enacted, that the man who had committed
An act of homicide, should ne'er appear
In public, or in social converse join.
By banishment they purged his crimes away,
But suffered not th' avenger to destroy him.

55 Adrastus.]-There is a passage in Photius relative to this Adrastus, which two learned men, Palmerius and Lar- . cher, have understood and applied very differently. The passage is this: Photius, in his Bibliotheca, giving an account of the historical work of Ptolemæus son of Hephæstion, says thus: "He also relates, that the name of the person who, in the first book of Herod tus, is said to have been killed by Adrastus son of Gordius, was Agathon, and that it was in consequence of some dispute about a quail"

The above, and, as it should seem with greater proba bility, Palmerius applies to the brother of Adiastus; Larcher understands it of the son of Croesus.

With respect to the quail, some of our readers may pro

entirely destitute."

sus,

"You come," replied Cro"of a family whom I esteem my friends. My protection shall, in return, be extended to you. You shall reside in my palace, and be provided with every necessary. You will do well not to suffer your misfortune to distress you too much.” Croesus then received him into his family.

XXXVI. There appeared about this time, near Olympus, in Mysia, a wild boars of an extraordinary size, which, issuing from the mountain, did great injury to the Mysians. They had frequently attacked it; but their attempts to destroy it, so far from proving successful, had been attended with loss to themselves. In the extremity, therefore, of their distress, they sent to Croœsus a message of the following import: "There has appeared among us, O king! a wild boar, of a most extraordinary

bably thank us for informing them, that the ancients had their quail, as the moderns have their cock-fights.-T.

His cocks do win the battle still of mine
When it is all to nought, and his quails ever
Beat mine inhooped at odds.-Shakespeare.

56 A wild boar.]-It should seem, from the account of ancient authors, that the ravages of the wild boar were considered as more formidable than those of the other savage animals. The conquest of the Erymanthian boar was one of the fated labours of Hercules; and the story of the Caledonian boar is one of the most beautiful in Ovid.-T.

ordinary size, injuring us much; but to destroy which all our most strenuous endeavours have proved ineffectual. We entreat you, therefore, to send to us your son, at the head of a chosen band, with a number of dogs, to relieve us from this formidable animal." Croesus, remembering his dream, answered them thus: "Of my son you must forbear to make mention: him I cannot send; he is lately married, and his time and attention sufficiently employed. But a chosen band of Lydians, hunters and dogs, shall attend you; and I shall charge them to take every possible means of relieving you, as soon as possible, from the attacks of the boar."

XXXVII. This answer of Croesus satisfied the Mysians 57; but the young man hearing of the matter, and that his father had refused the solicitations

57 Satisfied the Mysians.]-Valla, Henry Stephens, and Gronovius, in their versions of this passage, had, quum non essent contenti. Wesseling has taken away the negative particle *.

* See also what the Abbe Geinoz has said on the subject of this negative particle, in the Memoirs of the Academie des Belles Lettres. Vol. xxiii. p. 113.

It may be here proper to inform the reader, that the Abbe Geinoz intended not only to translate Herodotus, but also to give a new edition of the text. The various remarks on our historian, which appear in the different volumes of the above-mentioned memoirs, make it appear, that the learned Frenchman was well qualified for the office. It was his in

tention

citations of the Mysians for him to accompany them, hastened to the presence of the king, and spoke to him as follows: "It was formerly, Sir, esteemed in our nation, both excellent and honourable to seek renown in war, or in the hunting of wild beasts; but you now deprive me of both these opportunities of signalizing myself, without having reason to accuse me either of cowardice or sloth. Whenever I now am seen in public, how mean and contemptible shall I appear! How will my fellow-citizens, or my new wife, esteem me? what can be her opinion of the man whom she has married? Suffer me, then, Sir, either to proceed on this expedition, or condescend to convince me that the motives of your refusal, are

reasonable and sufficient.

XXXVIII. "My son," replied Croesus, “I do not in any respect think unfavourably of your courage, or your conduct. My behaviour towards

tention not merely to give a translation of the original text, with the text itself, but also to examine and amend the translations of Laurentius Valla, Gronovius, and others. Unhappily for the world of literature, death took him away in the midst of his studious pursuits. His character is thus given: Il avoit tout ce qui peut assurer le succes d'une pareille enterprise, erudition, sagacite, justesse dans l'esprit, aucun du travail, zéle pour son auteur, desin ardent de se rendre utile. Mais il a manque de temps. Nous esperons qu'il aura un continuateur. M. Larcher has most ably ful

filled what is here required.

wards you is influenced by a vision, which has lately warned me that your life will be short, and that you must perish from the wound of an iron spear. This first of all induced me to accelerate your nuptials, and also to refuse your presence in the proposed expedition, wishing, by my caution, to preserve you at least as long as I shall live. I esteem you as my only son; for your brother, on account of his infirmity, is in a manner lost to me."

XXXIX. "Having had such a had such a vision," returned Atys to his father, "I can easily forgive your anxiety concerning me: but as you apparently misconceive the matter, suffer me to explain what seems to have escaped you. The vision, as you affirm, intimated that my death should be occasioned by the point of a spear; but what arms or spear has a wild boar, that you should dread? If, indeed, it had been told you that I was to perish by a tusk, or something of a similar nature, your conduct would have been strictly proper; but, as a spear's point is the object of your alarm, and we are not going to contend with men, I hope for your permission to join this party."

XL. "Son," answered Croesus, "your reasoning, concerning my dream, has induced me to alter my opinion, and I permit you to go to this chace."

XLI. The