connected with this curious affair, which contains numerous valuable details illustrative of the organization of the Greek administration in Egypt. PLATE LVII. WRITING IN SMALL GREEK CAPITALS. IST CENTURY B.C. TREATISE ON MUSIC, FROM HERCULANEUM. HERCULANEUM was one of the most ancient cities of Campania, successively inhabited by the Oscans and Cumæans, and conquered by the Romans, who constituted it one of their colonies in the year 293 B.C. According to the common opinion, Herculaneum was entirely overwhelmed by the famous eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79, the first year of the reign of Titus; but historical evidence, worthy of credit, would lead us to believe, notwithstanding the eloquent account of the catastrophe given by Pliny the Younger, (who lost his uncle, the Elder Pliny, at the time,) that the city still survived to the time of Hadrian and the Antonines. Its existence is prolonged by some even until the year 471, the date of an irruption still more violent, the ashes of which covered a part of Europe, and were conveyed as far as Constantinople. It is supposed that at that time the inhabitants of Herculaneum, warned by previous experience, took refuge from the catastrophe at Naples; and we learn, in fact, from ancient monuments that a distinct quarter was appropriated there to the Herculaneans, and a city of that name, governed by their own magistrates. At that time Herculaneum was buried under eighty feet of lava and cinders, and for a long period modern research sought in vain the spot where it had existed. The earliest indications of the re-discovery of the buried city, extend back only to the first half of the eighteenth century, when the Prince of Elbœuf, of the house of Lorraine, (who in 1706 led the Imperial army to Naples against Philip V., and there married, in 1713, the daughter of the Prince of Salsa,) having built a villa, in 1720, on the sea-shore near Portici, purchased some land, on which one of the workmen discovered many statues, which induced the prince to continue the search, and with such success, that the King of Naples interfered, forbidding any further excavations. These were afterwards undertaken on his own account, and an ancient city was disinterred, recognized as Herculaneum, in its ancient state, and with all its contents, wanting only inhabitants, a sufficient proof of their having fled previous to the catastrophe which overwhelmed it. The same course was taken with the adjacent territory, and it was in one of the villas near the city, believed to have belonged to the family of the Pisones, that nearly 800 manuscripts were discovered, enclosed in a wooden book-case, ornamented with marqueterie. These manuscripts, written on papyrus, and each rolled up within itself, or upon a wooden cylinder, were discovered in a deplorable state, all of them being nearly carbonized, and crushed by the ruins, so as to form a compact mass, the layers of which could only be detached in very small fragments, generally consisting of pieces of several adherent layers; fortunately the ink remains* blacker even than the leaves themselves, and by the extraordinary patience of P. Antonio Piaggi and his assistants, a few of these manuscripts have been unrolled, and some valuable additions made to the literature of ancient Greece. The specimen in the Plate is a *In the fac-simile, the letters appear of a white color, as opposed to the dark ground of the papyrus.—ED. proof of this. It consists of a Treatise on Music by Philodemus*, a contemporary of Cicero, and an intimate friend of the family of Piso. As an epicurean philosopher (whose portrait has been drawn by Cicero +,) Philodemus treats the subject philosophically, instead of technically, and examines, whether music be useful to manners; combating in this respect the opinions of the stoic Diogenes. The last two columns of the manuscript (the 38th and 39th) are figured in the Plate. In the middle of the 39th are read these words in small Greek capitals, not truncated, the E and Σ being of the lunar form € and C. ΦΙΛΟΔΗΜΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΜΟΥΣΙΚΗ The 38th column is the continuation of the text, written in small Greek capitals, similar to the preceding, but shorter, straighter, and with the words not divided, the N of the cursive form W, without accents, spirits, or punctuation. The following is the text of the upper lines, as restored and read by the learned academicians of Herculaneum, commencing at the middle of the second line. ΟΤΑΝ ΔΕ ΠΕρι ουσΙΑΝ, ΚΑΙ ΔΟΞΑΝ εκ ΤΟΥ cum autem opes et gloriam ex ista disciplina provenire aiunt, respondeamus, istæc proferri multis studiis communia et e quamplurimis etiam abesse The form of the letters authorises this manuscript to be assigned to the first century before the Christian era. . * Herculanensium Voluminum quæ supersunt, tom. 1. Neap., ex Reg. typogr., 1793 fol. A memoir on this manuscript, with a fac-simile, was published at Berlin in 1806, by Chr. Gottleib von Murr, 64 pp. 4to. + Orat. contr. Pison., cap. 28 & 29. De Finibus, lib. 2, ad fin. Herculanens. Volum., etc., p. 17. PLATE LVIII. CURSIVE GREEK WRITING. IIND CENTURY A.C. NATAL ASTROLOGICAL THEME. THE manuscript on papyrus represented in this Plate is one of the most curious monuments existing of the popular opinions and prejudices of the nations of antiquity. It consists of a natal theme or nativity, cast by a professor of astrology, from the relative position of the planets and chief constellations at the moment of the birth of an individual. Astrology has been termed a ridiculous science; it would be better to say, that it was simply an idle deviation from astronomy, and probably derived from it, as the sister science alchemy was idly born of chemistry; and both must be considered as having been in some degree useful in preventing the entire neglect of the two sciences properly so called. The ancient astronomers were also in some degree astrologers. Ptolemy seriously treats on the atmospheric influences of the stars; the most ancient Egyptians placed each member of the body under the protection of a star; the Greeks inherited the same errors, and the determination of the epoch of the foundation of Rome in the year 753 B.C., so generally received as an historical fact, is only an astrological conclusion, a horoscope of Rome, cast by the astrologer Tarrutius, at the express request of the learned Varro and the severe Cato, who adopted it without hesitation. Very few of these natal themes have come down to us, and it is believed, that the only complete one known is that which is textually quoted in the writings of Firmicus*. The papyrus represented in the Plate, containing one of these themes of considerable length, constructed according to the strict rules of the art, is therefore a document of much importance. The first five lines are to be thus read: ΑΓΑΘΗ ΤΥΧΗ. Γένεσις ̓Ανουβίωνος Ψανόνωτος. ā 'AVTW νίνου Καίσαρος τοῦ κυρίου, μηνὺς Αδριανου η, κατά δε τοὺς ἀρχαίους τυξὶ ιη, ὥρας a τῆς ἡμέρας ἀρχ "To Good Fortune. The Nativity of Anoubion (son of ?) Psanonot. The first year of the Lord Antoninus Cæsar, the 8th of the month Hadrian, and according to the ancients (the Egyptians) the 18th of Tybi, at the first hour of the commencement of day; the sun being in Sagittarius," &c. Fron the last paragraph of the text it appears, that the dominant sign of the nativity of Anoubion, was the planet Venus. The date of this manuscript renders it of great palæographical importance, when compared with the other specimens, in the gradual decline from the uncial to the cursive Greek writing. The initial letter of each paragraph is larger than those of the text, and it was the intention of the scribe to form capitals; they are not, however, even uncial, but merely cursive letters of a large size. Compared with the writing of the Petition to Ptolemy, and the fragments of Homer, this manuscript prepares us for the deformities exhibited in the succeeding Plate. We here see, in fact, the A take the true cursive form, especially when joined to either of the adjacent * In the Astronomicon libri viii., edited by Nic. Bruckner, and with other astronomical treatises, dedicated to King Edward the Sixth, Bas. 1551. fol.-ED. This text is from a copy made some years ago, before the manuscript was injured by time. |