Levy, Clifton Harby

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MISCELLANEOUS.HUMAN DOCUMENTS FROM THE EARLY CENTURIES.The discovery of the Logia lesou at Oxyrhynchus in 1897 aroused world-wideinterest in the archaeological explorations being conducted in Egypt. But the Logiawere by no means the only manuscripts found at that time and place. The EgyptExploration Fund, under whose auspices this work was being done by Messrs.Grenfell and Hunt, has just published under their editorship a whole volume, con-taining more than a hundred and fifty ancient texts found at that time.Among these is a single page of the Gospel of Matthew, which is older thanany other MS. of the New Testament now known. Although only a few verses ofthe first chapter its text tends to prove the correctness of the conclusions of West-cott and Hort, and to show the incorrectness of the accepted text. Some other the-ological texts of no special value were also discovered, but the most interesting" find " was a lost poem by Sappho. Professor Blass has restored the somewhatmutilated text, which is translated thus :" Sweet Nereids, grant to me "That home unscathed my brother may return,And every end for which his soul shall yearnAccomplished see .'" And thou, immortal Queen,Blot out the past, that thus his friends may knowJoy, shame his foes,—nay rather, let no foeBy us be seen !" And may he have the willTo me, his sister, some regard to show,^ . To assuage the pain he brought, whose cruel blow ' •i^Sr^V My soul did kill, ,«., -" Yea, mine, for that ill name . . ' :Whose biting edge, to shun the festal throng ' " 'Compelling, ceased awhile; yet back ere longTo goad us came."Fragments of a treatise on metre by Aristoxenus of two lost comedies, of achronological work, elegiacs, and epigrams, together with fragments of Thucy-dides. Homer, Plato, Demosthenes, and other extant authors have also beenbrought to light.But none of these is so interesting as the large number of private and publicdocuments which were found, filled as they are with so much of the "EternallyHuman" that they cannot fail to appeal to us. An account of the trial of an em-- ^ ? >:MISCELLANEOUS. 187issary from Oxyrhynchus before the emperor in Rome is so dramatic in its effect asto prove itself the relation of an eye-witness. The scene is laid in the famous gar-dens of Lucullus, where the Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his council are seatedin judgment."As he (the emperor) was saying this, Appianus turned around, and, seeingHeliodorus, said, ' Heliodorus, when I am being led off to execution, do you notspeak ? ' Heliodorus : ' And to whom can I speak, when I have no one to listento me ? Onward, my son, to death ; it is a glory for you to die for your belovedcountry. Be not distressed. ..." The Emperor recalled Appianus and said,' Now do you know whom you are addressing ? ' Appianus : "I know very well :I, Appianus, am addressing a tyrant.' The Emperor : ' No, a king.' Appianus :' Say not so ! the deified Antoninus, your father, deserved imperial power. Lis-ten ; in the first place he was a lover of wisdom ; secondly, he was no lover ofgain;thirdly, he was a lover of virtue. You have the opposite qualities to these;you are a tyrant, a hater of virtue, and a boor.' Caesar ordered him to be led away.Appianus, as he was being led off, said, 'Grant me this one favor, lord Ca?sar.'The Emperor : ' What ? ' Appianus : ' Order that I may wear the insignia of my no-bility on the way.' The Emperor : 'Take them.' Appianus took up his band,placed it on his head, and put his white shoes on his feet, and cried out in themidst of Rome, ' Run hither, I^omans, and behold one led off to death who is agymnasiarch and envoy of the Alexandrians.' The veteran (who was accompany-ing Appianus) ran and told his lord, saying, ' Lord, while you are sitting in judg-ment, the Romans are murmuring.' The Emperor: 'At what?' The consul:'At the execution of the Alexandrian.' The Emperor: 'Let him be sent for.'When Appianus entered he said, 'Who has recalled me when I was now salutingmy second death, and those who have died before me—Theon, Isidorus, and Lam-pon ? Was it the senate or you, the arch-pirate ? ' The Emperor : ' We, too,are accustomed to bring to their senses those who are mad or beside themselves.You speak only so long as I allow you to speak.' Appianus: 'I swear by yourprosperity I am neither mad nor beside myself, but I appeal on behalf of my no-bility and of my rights.' The Emperor: ' How so ? ' Appianus: 'Because Iam a noble and a gymnasiarch.' The Emperor : ' Do you, then, mean that weare ignoble ?' Appianus : 'As to that, I do not know, but I appeal on behalf ofmy nobility and my rights.' The Emperor : ' Do you not now know that we arenoble ?' Appianus : ' On this point, if you really are ignorant, I will instruct you.In the first place, Caesar saved Cleopatra's life when he conquered her kingdom,and, some say, . . . ' "Another interesting minute of court proceedings shedding light upon the life ofthe year 49 in Egypt is this account of a law-suit for the possession of a child."From the minutes of Tiberius Claudius Pasion, strategus (judge of the nome ordistrict). The ninth year of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus Im-perator, Pharmouthi 3. In court, Pesouris Tersus Saraeus. Aristocles, advocatefor Pesouris, said : ' Pesouris, my client, in the seventh year of our sovereignTiberius Claudius Caesar, picked up from the gutter a boy foundling, named Her-aclas. He put it in the defendant's charge. This nurse was there for the son ofPesouris. She received her wages for the first year when they became due, shealso received them for the second year. In proof of my assertions there are thedocuments in which she acknowledges receipt. The foundlmg was being starved,and Pesouris took it away. Thereupon Saraeus, waiting her opportunity, made anincursion into my client's house and carried off the foundling. She now justifies itsI 88 THE OPEN COURT.removal on the ground that it was free-born. I have here firstly, the contract withthe nurse ; I have also, secondly, the receipt of the wages. I demand their recog-nition.' Saraeus : ' I weaned my own child, and the foundling belonging to thesepeople was placed in my charge I received from them my full wages of eightstaters. Then the foundling died, and I was left with the money. They now wishto take away my own child.' Theon : ' We have the papers relating to the found-ling.' The strategus : ' Since from its features the child appears to be that of Sa-raeus, if she and her husband will make a written declaration that the foundlingentrusted to her by Pesouris died, I give judgment in accordance with the decisionof our lord the praefect, that she have her own child on paying back the money shehas received.' "The custom of manumitting slaves for a monetary consideration is reflected inthis letter of the year 86. " Chaeremon to the agoranomus, greeting. Grant free-dom to Euphrosyne, a slave, aged about thirty-five years, born in her owner'shouse of the slave Demetrous. She is being set at liberty under ... by ransom byher mistress Aloine, daughter of Komon, son of Dionysius of Oxyrhynchus, underthe wardship of Komon, the son of Aloine's deceased brother Dioscorus. The pricepaid is ten drachmae of coined silver and ten talents, three thousand drachmae ofcopper. Farewell."A letter touching upon a shortage in the accounts of an official is a fresh re-minder of the constancy in human traits. "Good men went wrong," or, rather,rogues were found out then as now. "Aurelius Apolinarius, strategus of the Oxy-rhynchite nome, to his dear friend Apion, ex-strategus of the Antaeopolite noma,greeting. Dioscorus, strategus of the Antaeopolite nome, has sent me a despatchwhich has been delayed until Epeiph 13 of the past third year, explaining that Pot-amon, also called Sarapion, the collector of the nome, among the receipts of therevenue of the third year when you were in office, received towards the completionof the survey of the dykes and canals in the second year the sum of three thousandone hundred and eighty-seven drachmae, three obols, which he did not pay over tothe revenue office within the appointed time. Dioscorus now wishes me to ask thatthis should be refunded, and to credit it to the nome. In order, therefore, that youmay be acquainted with these facts and lose no time in repaying the money in ac-cordance with this letter ..."A report of a robbery in which the victim seems to have his doubts as to theefforts made by the police to catch the thieves, is suggestive of the idea that Tam-many methods are pretty ancient. "... they broke down a door that led into thepublic street and had been blocked up with bricks, probably using a log of woodas a battering-ram. They then entered the house and contented themselves withtaking from what was stored there ten artabae of barley, which they carried off bythe same way. We guessed that this was removed piecemeal by the said doorfrom the marks of a rope dragged in that direction, and pointed out this fact to thechief of the police of the village and to the other officials. I am therefore obligedto put in this petition, and beg you to order that the chief of the police and theother officials be brought before you, and to make due inquiry about this robbery,so that I may be able to recover the barley."A declaration by an egg-seller is rather quaint reading. " To Flavins Then-nyras, logistes of the Oxyrhynchite nome, from Aurelius Nilus, son of Didymus, ofthe illustrious and most illustrious city of Oxyrhynchus, an egg-seller by trade.I hereby agree on the august, divine oath by our lords the Emperor and the Caesarsto offer my eggs in the market-place publicly, for sale and for the supply of theMISCELLANEOUS. 1 89said city, every day without intermission, and I acknowledge that it shall be un-lawful for me in the future to sell secretly or in any house. If I am detected sodoing (I shall be liable to the penalty for breaking the oath)."Some of the Greek and Latin documents deal with the every-day life of thepeople in the most concrete fashion. Here, for instance, is the monthly meat billof a cook, affording more than a glimpse at the bill of fare of the second century."Cook's account. Thoth 4th, 24th year, 4 pounds of meat, 2 trotters, i tongue, isnout. 6th, half a head with the tongue, nth, 2 pounds of meat, i tongue, 2 kid-neys. i2th, I pound of meat, i breast. 14th, 2 pounds of meat, i breast. i6th,3 pounds of meat. 17th, 2 pounds of meat, i tongue. i8th, i tongue. 21st, ipaunch. 22nd, i paunch, 2 kidneys. 23rd, 2 pounds of meat, i paunch, 2 trotters.26th, I tongue. 30th, I breast. And before this, on Mesore i8th, 2 pounds ofmeat, i paunch, 2 kidneys. 21st, i breast. 23rd, i half a head with the tongue2 kidneys. 24th, 2 pounds, 2 trotters. 25th, for Tryphon 2 pounds, i ear, i trot-ter, 2 kidneys. 29th, 2 pounds, 2 trotters, i tongue. 2nd intercalary day, itongue. 3rd, I breast."The formal invitations of the second and third century were so much like thoseissued to-day that, with the names and dates changed, they might be copied andused as models of elegance in any social circle. This invitation to dinner, for in-stance : "Chaeremon requests your company at dinner at the table of the lord Se-rapis in the Serapeum to-morrow, the 15th, at 9 o'clock."A less formal letter of invitation to a festival was also found ; "Greeting, mydear Serenia, from Petosiris. Be sure, dear, to come up on the 20th for the birth-day festival of the god, and let me know whether you are coming by boat or bydonkey, in order that we may send for you accordingly. Take care not to forget. Ipray for your continued health."A letter of consolation written in the second century is no less interesting;" Irene to Taonnophris and Philo, good cheer ! I was as much grieved and shedas many tears over Eumoerus as I shed for Didymas, and I did everything that wasfitting, and so did all my friends, Epaphroditus and Thermouthion and Philion andApollonius and Plantas. But still there is nothing one can do in the face of suchtrouble. So I leave you to comfort yourselves. Good-bye. Athyrl."There were pawn-shops in those days to which some of the ladies had recoursewhen in need, and they were compelled to pay the usurious interest of four percent, per month. Here is a letter from one of the victims: "Now please redeemmy property from Serapion. It is pledged for two minae. I have paid interest upto Epeiph, at the rate of a stater per mina. There is a casket of incense-wood,and another of onyx, a tunic, a white veil with a real purple border, a handker-chief, a tunic with a Laconian stripe, a garment of purple linen, two armlets, anecklace, a coverlet, a figure of Aphrodite, a cup, a big tin flask, and a wine-jar.From Onetor get the two bracelets. They have been pledged since Tybi of lastyear for eight ... at the rate of a stater per mina. If the cash is insufficient owingto the carelessness of Theagenis, if, I say, it is insufficient, sell the bracelets tomake up the money. Many salutations to Aia and Eutychia and Alexandra. Xan-thilla salutes Aia and all her friends. I pray for your health."Most natural of all this epistolary literature is an ill-spelled and ungrammat-ical letter written by a spoiled boy to his father: " Theon to his father Theon,greeting. It was a fine thing of you not to take me with you to the city ! If youwon't take me to Alexandria with you I won't write you a letter or speak to you orsay good-bye to you ; and if you go to Alexandria I won't take your hand or everigO THE OPEN COURT.greet you again. That is what will happen if you won't take me. Mother said toArchelaus, ' It quite upsets him to be left behind.' It was good of you to send mepresents ... on the 12th, the day you sailed. Send me a lyre, I implore you. Ifyou don't I won't eat, I won't drink ; there now."I wonder if he got the lyre. Clifton Harby Levy.THE GOESCHEN SERIES OF POPULAR CLASSICS, AND LITER-ARY AND SCIENTIFIC TEXT-BOOKS.There was undoubtedly a strong admixture of ethics and philanthropy in theeconomical reflexions that stirred the heart of Herr G. J. Goschen, the well-knownLeipsic publisher, when he conceived the project of publishing his cheap seriesof Literary Classics and Literary and Scientific Manuals. But whatever themotive, the World-Spirit moved to good purpose in him. The series is marvel-lously cheap, costing but 80 pfennigs apiece (20 cents) for volumes some of whichrun to 300 pages, and all of which are bound in flexible linen covers. It embracesthe most varied subjects—histories of literatures, grammars of the most importantlanguages, annotated editions of the German classics of all periods, dictionaries,histories of art, and manuals of all the sciences. The books are not reprints, butindependent works by competent authorities—with illustrations, figures, etc.,—andall of pocket-size. The plenitude of material is such that we can mention in thisreview the mathematical text-books only. A few of the literary manuals will benoticed later. " fF/r konnen es nicht mit einein Trichter eitigiesseyi,'" as themedieval professor of philosophy petulantly said to his students at the end of afour-years' course on Aristotle.* *The miniature mathematical library of the Goschen series consists of some tenvolumes, which are shortly to be increased by several more. The mathematicaleditor under whose direction these works have been written is Prof. HermannSchubert, of Hamburg, well known to the readers of The Ofen Court and TheMonist. Professor Schubert is himself the author of three of the books of the se-ries—all of them models of conciseness, yet exceedingly rich in contents for theirsize, and of very high didactic value. They are (i) his AritJnnetic and Algebra,(2) his Collection of Examples in Arithmetic and Algebra ; and (3) his Tables ofFour-Place Logarithtns. The value of his first book lies in its systematic and log-ical development of the principles ; it embraces nearly all of what is called with ushigher arithmetic (excluding the commercial parts), and elementary algebra ; itwould form an excellent skeleton-course in the hands of elementary instructors.The Examples are a companion-book to the Arithmetic and Algebra. The Foiir-flace Logarithms are unique in several respects : they are printed in two colorsred and black ; both for the natural numbers and for trigonometric functions, anti-tables are given, dispensing with interpolation, and making it as easy to find theanti-logarithms as the logarithms ; tables of physical and mathematical constantshave also been added. This book could be used in great part by students quiteignorant of German.The next volume in order is that of Dr. Benedikt Sporer, on Niedere Analy-sis, and is devoted to such subjects as continued fractions, indeterminate analysis,the theory of combinations and probabilities, series, interpolation, and the elemen-tary theory of equations. The volume has 173 pages, and contains much material

Human Documents From the Early Centuries. The Oxyrhynchus MSS. With a Fac-simile Reproduction of the Lost Ode of Sappho

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Human Documents From the Early Centuries. The Oxyrhynchus MSS. With a Fac-simile Reproduction of the Lost Ode of Sappho

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