Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 9, 1898.djvu/199

Rh 375)? The idiom used in speaking of recurrent festivals does not apply here. Or would Mr. Frazer translate the first chorus of the Agamemnon, "It is now the ninth year since we came to Troy?" But these are trifles compared with the excellent quality of the translation as a whole. Mr. Frazer is happy, too, in his translation of divine epithets; what could be neater than Artemis, Lady of the Lake?

Appended to the translation is an apparatus criticus, which will be welcome to scholars; though we might have looked for some account of the manuscripts of Pausanias, and their value.

We now come to the commentary, which occupies four volumes. The archæological and typographical notes are of the highest excellence. Mr. Frazer here summarises the works of Leake, Dodwell, Lolling, and all other travellers of repute; but this is not all. He has wisely gone over the ground himself, with the result that not only are his descriptions vivid and exact, but they often supplement or correct those of earlier travellers. Mr. Frazer includes descriptions of buildings not described by Pausanias, where any such exist. If any one wishes to know what Greece is really like, we recommend him to read this Commentary. Dip in it where you will, you cannot fail to be interested. Whether it be a vivid picture of ancient life (ii. 131), a pretty description of scenery (as of the road to the Styx, iv. 248, or the Scironian Road, ii. 547, Cape Malea, iii. 386), or a minute history of excavations, Mr. Frazer is equally at home. The capture of Corinth is a vigorous piece of narration (iii. 61). It is hard to begin the romantic story of Mycenæ without finishing it; and this is only one out of many such. The notes on Mycenæ, Megalopolis, Eleusis, Olympia, Delphi, and similar sites, are, indeed, each a complete and interesting essay. We doubt if accounts so good are to be found in any other English book. Under Delphi, in particular, he has much to tell that is new. The French are an unconscionable time in publishing their results; but they have relaxed their rules so far as to allow Mr. Frazer to give a plan of their discoveries, and two splendid plates of the Siphnian sculptures.

There is no question that this is the best account of Delphi that exists. So, too, of the Heraeum at Argos, and of Lake Copais. Athens occupies a whole volume, and here, too, the results of the latest excavations are included. It is a pity, however, that Mr. Frazer did not extend his travels to Branchidæ,