Page:The Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology, Volume 1, 1854.djvu/11

 

 

's Essay on the "Birds" of Aristophanes was first published in the "Transactions of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin," in the year 1830. An English Translation by W. R. Hamilton, F.R.S., made its appearance five years afterwards. Certain of Professor Süvern's conclusions have been called in question by various German writers, but, so far as I know, his theory of interpretation has never been assailed. His general views have been received with unqualified assent, certainly without protest, by English scholars; and the book is still recommended to students about to read the "Birds," as supplying the master-key to the poet's meaning. Those who recommend it share, I presume, in the Translator's "earnest conviction that Professor Süvern has fully and completely succeeded in proving the proposition he has advanced:" it cannot therefore be out of place to confess, on the other hand, an earnest conviction that the said proposition is utterly untenable. I shall endeavour to prove this assertion so far as my limits will allow. They will not allow me to combat Prof. Süvern step by step, a process alike wearisome and unnecessary, for, if the basis of the theory be proved unsound, all the indices and lexicons in the world will not suffice to establish it. I do not undervalue his research, I acknowledge the plausibility of his conjectures as to the meaning of some isolated passages; I deny his general proposition, viz that the "Birds," over and above its obvious plot and purpose, . March, 1854.