‘Stulte verebor, ipse quum faciam, Deos.’
Octav. Act. ii. 450
[Note 28]. Page 174.
Χρυσὸν ἀνὴρ εὑρὼν ἔλιπε βρόχον, αὐτὰρ ὁ χρυσὸν
Ὂν λίπεν οὐχ εὑρὼν, ἥψεν ὃν εὗρε βρόχον.
This epigram was once quoted to Coleridge as proof of the condensation possible in Greek. He at once rendered it in the two English lines:—
‘Jack, finding some gold, left a rope on the ground,
Tom, missing his gold, used the rope which he found.’
[Note 29]. Page 175.
Pagan epitaphs.—For those quoted see Nov. Fiorentini, xxxiii. (ap. Döllinger, Judaism, &c. ii. 147; and Muratori, p. 1677).