I Have been invited to write an article on the subject of the pronunciation of Latin. I put this fact in the forefront, for I do not wish it to be supposed that I am a fanatic who seeks every opportunity of bombarding an unwilling audience with his one fixed idea. As a matter of fact, my main feeling in the matter is that a completely undue importance has been attached to the question, and that it is the so-called reformers and not their opponents who are responsible for this tedious discussion. Having made this apology I will state my case with what brevity I can.

The veering of the weathercock of taste is a phenomenon which has never yet been fully studied by either aestheticians or historians of art. The shifting of emphasis in matters of choice and appreciation in art have been faithfully recorded, but as yet no attempt to explain the variations has been put forward. Sometimes variations of taste throughout a long period are in the form of a progressive or regressive series, sometimes they are purely erratic, one movement not necessarily being dependent upon its predecessor.

I have been invited to write an article on the subject of the pronunciation of Latin. I put this fact in the forefront, for I do not wish it to be supposed that I am a fanatic who seeks every opportunity of bombarding an unwilling audience with his one fixed idea. As a matter of fact, my main feeling in the matter is that a completely undue importance has been attached to the question, and that it is the so-called reformers and not their opponents who are responsible for this tedious discussion. Having made this apology I will state my case with what brevity I can.

The veering of the weathercock of taste is a phenomenon which has never yet been fully studied by either aestheticians or historians of art. The shifting of emphasis in matters of choice and appreciation in art have been faithfully recorded, but as yet no attempt to explain the variations has been put forward. Sometimes variations of taste throughout a long period are in the form of a progressive or regressive series, sometimes they are purely erratic, one movement not necessarily being dependent upon its predecessor.

It is the special function of the poet to create beauty. Loveliness may appear in many thousand forms, but among these one of the most satisfying is the ‘pen-picture’, the Homeric or Virgilian simile, complete and perfect in three or four lines. Pope speaks of

‘The Simile that solitary shines

In the dry desert of a thousand lines.’

The excellent article by Professor Droop in the May number of Greece and Rome leaves little to add. There are, however, one or two points on which it seems to me necessary to enlarge and perhaps to join issue.

Tacitus as an historian has long been critically revalued: as an artist, I think, he has been spared too much. To promote that further revaluation is the purpose of these notes.

It is the special function of the poet to create beauty. Loveliness may appear in many thousand forms, but among these one of the most satisfying is the ‘pen-picture’, the Homeric or Virgilian simile, complete and perfect in three or four lines. Pope speaks of

‘The Simile that solitary shines

In the dry desert of a thousand lines.’

Among the many valuable epigraphical discoveries which have rewarded the labours of the Italian Archaeological Mission at Cyrene, not the least interesting is that of which I here present a brief account.

The excellent article by Professor Droop in the May number of Greece and Rome leaves little to add. There are, however, one or two points on which it seems to me necessary to enlarge and perhaps to join issue.

Tacitus as an historian has long been critically revalued: as an artist, I think, he has been spared too much. To promote that further revaluation is the purpose of these notes.

It is curious that Tacitus had little reputation among later Romans. Pliny looked for his friend's immortality; but was this politeness or Plinian affectation? ‘The next generations showed faint interest in his writings.

Among the many valuable epigraphical discoveries which have rewarded the labours of the Italian Archaeological Mission at Cyrene, not the least interesting is that of which I here present a brief account.