Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/768

Rh 744 PRISCIAN the imperial secretariat (&quot;memorialis sacri scrinii episto- larum &quot;). Three minor treatises are dedicated to Symmachus (the father-in-law of Boetius). Cassiodorus, writing in the ninety-third year of his age (560? 573?), heads some extracts from Priscian with the statement that he taught at Constantinople in his (Cassiodor s) time (Keil, (Jr. Lat., vii. p. 207). His title Csesariensis points, accord ing to Niebuhr and others, to Ciesarea in Mauretania. Priscian s teacher was Theoctistus, &quot;noster preceptor, omnis eloquentke decus, cui quicquid in me sit doctrinse post deum imputo&quot; (Inst. Gr., vi. 51), who also wrote an Institutio art is grammatical (ibid., xviii. 5G). A later gram marian, Eutyches, pays Priscian himself a still higher com pliment &quot;de quibus Romanre lumen facundise, meus, immo communis omnium hominum, pneceptor, summa cum subtilitate copiosissime grammaticus Priscianus disser- uisse cognoscitur &quot; (Eutych., i. 8 ; Keil, (Jr. Lat., v. p. 45G). Priscian was quoted by several writers in Britain of the 8th century Aldhelm, Becle, Alcuin and was abridged or largely used in the next century by Hrabanus Maurus of Fulda and Servatus Lupus of Ferrara. Of the general use made of his great work the best proof is that, as Hertz says, there is hardly a library in Europe that did not and does not contain a copy, and that there are now about a thousand MSS. of it. The greater part of these contain only books i-xvi. (sometimes called Priscianus major) ; a few contain (with the three books Ad Symmachum) books xvii., xviii. (Priscianus minor) ; and a few contain both parts. The earliest MSS. are of the 9th century, though a few fragments are somewhat earlier. All are ultimately derived from the copy made by Theodorus. The first printed edition was in 1470 at Venice. It may fairly be said that from the beginning of the 6th century until recently Priscian has reigned over Latin grammar with almost as generally recognized an authority as Justinian has over Roman law. Some account of so remarkable a treatise may reasonably be required. The Institutiones Grammaticse is a systematic exposition of Latin grammar, dedicated to Julian, consul and patri cian, whom some have identified with the author of a well- known epitome of Justinian s Novella?, but the lawyer appears to be somewhat later than Priscian. In length the treatise is about twice the size of Quintilian s Institutio Orrttoria, and about equal to Madvig s Latin Grammar. It is divided into eighteen books, of which the first sixteen deal mainly with sounds, word-formation, and inflexions, the last two, which form from a fourth to a third of the whole work, deal with syntax. Priscian informs us in his preface that he has translated into Latin such pre cepts of the Greeks Herodian and Apollonius as seemed suitable, and added to them from Latin grammarians. Of the latter he occasionally refers to Caper, Donatus, Probus, and Servius ; and more rarely to Charisius, Dio- medes, Asper, Nonius, Remmius Palsemon, and others. He proceeds in orderly and almost exhaustive fashion, though with some digressions and repetitions, gives defini tions, rules, examples, and exceptions, and constantly quotes passages from various writers to illustrate the use of a form. He has thus preserved to us numerous frag ments which would otherwise have been lost, e.g., from Ennius, Pacuvius, Attius, Lucilius, Cato, and Varro. But the authors whom he quotes most frequently are Virgil, and, sext to him, Terence, Cicero, Plautus ; then Lucan, Horace, Juvenal, Sallust, Statius, Ovid, Livy, and Persius. His industry in collecting forms and examples is both great and methodical. His style is somewhat heavy, but sensible and clear ; it has not the admirable grace of Quin- tilian, nor the adroit use of a technical language such as is found in the Roman jurists ; but there is no attempt at fine writing, and it is free not of course from usages of late Latin, but from anything that can be called barbarism. Considering the time at which it was written, it is very creditable to the author, and not unworthy of the high place it obtained in the grammatical world. Its defects are such as were till lately common more or less to all grammars. These defects may be referred in the main to four heads. (1) Priscian avowedly treats Greek writers on (Greek) grammar as his supreme authorities (cf. i. 13 ; vi. 1 ; xii. 13, etc.), and, though noticing differences between the two languages, bears too little in mind that each has a history of its own and is a law to itself. (2) There had been no scientific study of phonetics, and consequently the changes and combinations of languages are treated in a mechanical way: e.g., i passes into a, as genus, generis, generation ; into o as saxi, saxosus (i. 33) ; q passes into s as torqueo, torsi (i. 48), &c. (3) The resolution of a word into root or stem and inflexional or derivative affixes was an idea wholly unknown, and the rules of formation are often based on unimportant phenomena, and yet are invested with an authority which is irrational and mis leading : e.g., Venus, like other names ending in us, ought to have genitive Veni, but, as this might be taken for a verb, it has Veneris (vi. 86 ; viii. 5). Ador has no geni tive because two rules conflict ; for neuters in or have a short penult (e.g., sequor, scquoris), and adoro, from which it is derived, has a long penult (vi. 49 ; viii. 6). (4) The practical meaning of the inflexions is not realized, and syntactical usages are treated as if they were arbitrary or accidental associations. Thus, after laying down as a general rule for declinable words that, when they refer to one and the same person, they must have the same case, gender, and number, Priscian adds, that when there are transitive words we may use different numbers, as doceo discipidos, docemus discipidum (xvii. 153-155). He often states a rule too broadly or narrowly, and then, as it were, gropes after restrictions and extensions. His etymologies are of course sometimes very wild : e.g., csdehs from cselestium vitam ducens, b being put for u because a consonant cannot be put before another conson ant (i. 23) ; deterior from the verb detero, deteris ; potior (adj.) from potior, potiris (iii. 3) ; arbor from robur (vi. 48) ; verbum from verberatus aeris (viii. 1), &c. Nor is he always right in Greek usages : thus, in illustrating Latin moods by Greek he frequently uses the future optative with av, e.g., e/cSuo-oivro av, TrtcrreiVoiyLit av (xviii. 106), and still more strangely treats dpa as identical in force with av, e.g., quasi tolleretur ac constitueretur, eTrat/Jotro av KO.L KarardrTOLTo apa, and misuses both particles, e.g., in me causam conferebat quod eum codicem obsignassem, ecr&amp;lt;payio-a av Tjroi o-(payiKa&amp;gt;s t&quot;f]v apa (xviii. 110). He evidently regarded av or apa as normally required with the Greek optative or other moods corresponding to the Latin sub junctive (xviii. 117, &c.). A rapid notice of the order and of some salient points will show both merits and defects in the treatment of his subject-matter. The references are to the book and to Krehl s paragraphs. Book i. treats of vocal sound and of letters, their changes and com binations. Elementa are vowels, semi-vowels, or mutes. Vowels are named from their own sound ; semi-vowels sound a vowel before them ; mutes sound a vowel after them (i. 7). As semi vowels he classes/, I, m, n, r, s, x, and in Greek names z. Fr&a, among the earliest Latins, the ^Eolic digamma, but afterwards was equivalent to &amp;lt;. It is, however, rather a mute, because it is not found at the end of a word, and can be placed before I and r in the same syllable (ib. 13). K is quite superfluous ; g merely shows that a u following has no metrical effect ; h is a mere aspiration ; i and u sometimes pass into consonants, and then have a different metri cal effect from what they have as vowels (ib. 14-17). 1) has often the sound of z : e.g., in meridics, hodie (ib. 31). Book ii. treats of the syllable and of the letters used to end it, then of the parts of speech. A syllable is an ordered combination of letters uttered with one accent and one breath (ii. 1). A word (dicti.o) is the unit of orderly speech (ib. 14). Speech (orntio) is a suitable arrangement of words expressing a complete meaning (ib.